Professor Joseph Stiglitz says 'Nationalise banks'

Professor Joseph Stiglitz on a BBC 'Business Daily' interview which I heard in the middle of the night has said what many are beginning to think is inevitable

“We don't have the control, so they get to make the decisions in their advantage”
There's a growing chorus of voices in the United States suggesting that temporary nationalisation may be best solution for the living dead, or 'zombie banks' among America's banks.

Listen to the interview with Professor Stiglitz here

The voices include Alan Greenspan, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

The argument goes that rather than drip-feeding public support to so-called 'zombie' banks, the government should take them over, clean up their balance sheets and sell them off.

It is not something the Obama administration wants to consider right now. After all, nationalisation is a dirty word for many free-market Americans.


But then what does it really mean - full state control, or partial ownership? After all, the US government already owns about 40% of Citigroup.

The US Treasury and the Federal Reserve dismiss the idea of nationalisation. But uncertainty about it is causing upset in the markets.

Business Daily's Lesley Curwen spoke to professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University, who believes it is only a matter of time before nationalisation happens.