Kass: Resolution Trust No Cure-All

This blog post originally appeared on RealMoney Silver at 4:19 p.m. EDT Thursday.

I have to disagree with all the pundits -- and many of the more bullish cabal today -- who view the RTC solution as a cure-all.

The issue is more complex today as compared to when the RTC emerged in the early 1990s.

At that time, the government inherited its vast real estate portfolio of commercial and residential properties through the acquisition of bankrupt thrifts.

Today the issue is far more complicated, as the government apparently intends to buy the bonds that are backed by the delinquent and foreclosed properties.

So unless the Treasury pays more than the real estate backed bonds are worth from the banking and thirft industry, this is not a recapitalization that immediately benefits the financial intermediaries that have been crippled by delinquencies and foreclosures.

While a Treasury intervention will stabilize the impaired real estate markets, it is not, as I previously wrote, a cure all.

Moreover, how does the federal government plan to pay for such a large-scale endeavor?

Even with such a solution, the only real cure is time, and some more pain for the banks that hold the assets. It is for these reasons, and others, that the equity market, in my judgment, has overreacted to the "news."

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