This is how Tarp ought to work. The Treasury secretary should begin by asking the banking supervisors to produce an estimate for each bank, how much additional capital they would need to meet the statutory requirement of 8 per cent. The supervisors are familiar with the banks and are aggressively examining and gathering information. They would be able to come up with an estimate in short order provided they are given clear instructions on what assumptions to use. The estimates would be reasonably reliable for the smaller, simpler institutions, but the likes of Citibank and Goldman Sachs would require some guesswork.
以下談談問題資產救助計劃應如何實施的問題。鮑爾森應從要求銀行業監管機構提供各銀行估算數據著手，弄清楚它們需要多少額外的資本金，才能達到法定8%的資本金充足率要求。監管機構對這些銀行的情況較爲熟悉，正積極審覈並收集資訊。如果得到有關使用何種假設的明確指令，銀行業監管機構將能夠在短時間內提供估測數據。對規模較小、較爲簡單的金融機構的估測數據將較爲可靠，而對花旗銀行(Citibank)和高盛(Goldman Sachs)等機構，則需要一些臆測。