Plan to thaw credit markets sends stocks soaring-WEB ONLY

The Obama administration launched a new effort today to end a paralysis in lending, saying it will team with investors to sop up a half-trillion dollars of bad assets from banks that have been reluctant to make loans to consumers and companies.

In announcing the program, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pleaded for patience, saying that work to rehabilitate an industry with such systemic problems must go forward despite “deep anger and outrage” over executive bonus payments.

Geithner told reporters the new program will seek to harness government and private resources to purchase a half-trillion dollars of bad assets off the balance sheets of banks and said he expects purchases eventually could grow to $1 trillion.

The latest rescue plan represents another test for the embattled Geithner, whose performance has come under heavy criticism from some in Congress.

Wall Street seemed to feel rejuvenated, at least at the opening. In late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 221 at 7,500. Reaction to an earlier administration bank-rescue program on Feb. 10 was anything but enthusiastic, with dispirited investors sending the Dow Jones plummeting by 380 points.

The administration’s newest toxic-asset repellant was another in a string of banking initiatives that have included efforts to deal directly with mortgage foreclosures, boost lending to small businesses and thaw out the credit markets for many types of consumer loans.

Administration officials said the plan put forth today will deploy $75 billion to $100 billion from the government’s existing $700 billion bailout program for the purchase of bad assets – resources that will be supported by loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a loan facility being operated by the Federal Reserve.

Under a typical transaction, for every $100 in soured mortgages being purchased from banks, the private sector would put up $7 and that would be matched by $7 from the government. The remaining $86 would be covered by a government loan provided in many cases by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Geithner defended the decision to have the government carry so much of the risk. He said the alternative would have been to do nothing and risk a more prolonged recession or have the government carry all of the risk.

Geithner also said there would be significant advantages from having private market participants bidding against each other to set prices for which the bad assets will be purchased. “There is no doubt the government is taking risks,” he told reporters. “You can’t solve a financial crisis without the government taking risks.”

Devising bailout plans has never been easy work, and the brouhaha surrounding millions in executive retention bonuses paid out by financially strapped American Insurance Group, Inc., hasn’t improved the political atmosphere.

Geithner himself has been under siege from many quarters, with some congressmen saying they don’t believe he’s up to the job. President Barack Obama, however, has stood steadfastly behind his Treasury secretary.

Officials said they expect participation by a broad array of investors ranging from pension funds and insurance companies to hedge funds. To achieve that goal, the program would be set up to entice private investors with low-cost loans provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve.

The government itself would shoulder the bulk of the risk. Geithner has said that the country cannot afford to simply wait for banks to work off these bad assets over time.