"This is infinitely complicated when you get into the details," said L. William Seidman, who was chairman of the RTC from 1989 through 1991, during an appearance Thursday on CNBC.
Still, many experts applaud the idea of finding a comprehensive approach to the credit crisis.
"What's clear is that there are going to be a lot more AIGs before this is over," said Kenneth S. Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. "We need to lay out an algorithm for how to handle them in the future."
Others say that the solution should focus on bailing out homeowners, helping them cure the mortgage delinquencies and defaults that are undermining the values of the securities composed of bundled home loans. Such a solution would ensure that financial executives who helped create the crisis would not be the main beneficiaries of a rescue plan, while shoring up a key sector of the economy.
"It's clear that rather than rescuing the companies that are about to fail, we should rescue the housing market," Greenberger said. "If you could create a system of tax credits and financial assistance to help people stay in their houses, you could resuscitate a lot of this paper."
But all involved say that any solution is likely to require weeks, if not months, of complicated debate in Congress and among financial regulators.
"Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson are smart people with a lot of plans," Rogoff said. "If there were an easy solution, I'm sure they would have it on the table already."
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michael.hiltzik@latimes.com
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FINANCIAL CRISIS
Candidates: McCain and Obama offer competing solutions. Nation, A18
Market rally: The Dow rises 410 on talk of federal action. Business, C1
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