A new wrinkle in bailouts

Bloomberg.com is reporting on a new development in bank bailouts. Under a plan originating with the House Financial Services Committee, future bailouts of financial firms would not be funded by average taxpayers but by fees assessed against financial institutions managing $10 billion in assets or more. Under the plan, which is a compromise worked out between Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would manage the process of shoring up troubled institutions.