Wall Street Can Save U.S. With `Reverse TARP’: William D. Cohan

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Anyone on Wall Street who has spenttime restructuring the debt of bankrupt companies knows exactlywhy the politicians in Washington have proved so inept in theirattempts to get a comprehensive deal to cut government spending,raise taxes and increase the debt ceiling.

What Congress and the White House have been trying to do --essentially an out-of-court restructuring among creditors inserious denial -- is generally considered to be one of the mostdifficult and complex maneuvers in Wall Street sport. It is theequivalent of a 309B from the three-meter board in springboarddiving: a reverse four-and-one-half in the pike position, whichhas a degree of difficulty of 4.8. Even the top restructuringprofessionals rarely pull it off.