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Lifting the TARP: Is a Reconstruction Finance Corporation a Better Way to Restore the Banking System?

Date: April 8, 2009

Time: 9:00 AM

Atrium Ballroom
Washington Court Hotel
525 New Jersey Ave NW
Washington, DC

It's time to look under the TARP, and answer some big questions about whether the current approach will get the credit markets flowing and restore the banking system to serving the needs of consumers and business. Join Demos for a half-day Washington, DC conference that features prominent critics of the TARP and advocates of a public corporation to take over failed banks modeled on Franklin Roosevelt's Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

Our panelists will examine these critical questions:

*Will the Geithner Plan for the banks actually work? Or will it mainly enrich investors at taxpayer expense?
*How can the entire process be more transparent?
*Does the new plan put the Federal Reserve at risk?
*What are the alternatives?

Agenda:   

9:00-10:30 am - Panel 1: Examining the Flaws in the TARP/TALF Model

Moderator:
      Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Programs, Demos

Panelists:
      Anna Burger, Chair, Change to Win and member of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
      James Carr, Chief Operating Officer, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
      Rob Johnson, former Managing Director, Soros Funds

10:30 am-12:00 pm - Panel 2: Examining the Merits of a Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Moderator:
       Robert Kuttner, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and Co-Editor of The American Prospect

Panelists:
       Alex Pollack, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
       Damon Silvers, Associate General Counsel of the AFL-CIO and member of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the TARP
       Walker Todd, Research Fellow, American Institute for Economic Research; former legal and research officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

With: Miles Rapoport | Tamara Draut | Robert Kuttner