Today’s must read article is in on the Swedish model of crisis repair:

“When it comes to rescuing banks, the Swedes are earning a reputation as trendsetters. First they set a standard for recovering from disaster; now they want to export their idea for how to pay for it.

The country went through its own crippling banking crisis during the early 1990s, after the bursting of a domestic credit bubble. It rebounded relatively smoothly through an aggressive bailout policy built around nationalization and carving the troubled assets of banks off into a so-called bad bank.

That blueprint was followed to varying degrees over the last year or so in the United States [WTF?], Japan [Really?], Britain, the Netherlands and other countries.

Now, others are looking at Sweden’s latest idea to protect its lenders, enacted at the end of 2009 — a “stability fee,” or direct tax on banks so that they pay for their own bailouts. . .”

Good stuff . . .

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Source:
Swedish Bank Fee Sets Example for America ^[1]
MATTHEW SALTMARSH
NYT, January 22, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/business/global/22levy.html