Geithner's plan; who gets to participate?

That is my research topic of the day and I'm having a hard time coming up with answers.

It seems that much of the criticism about Geithner's plan "robbing the ordinary tax payer" is prefaced on the assumption that the "ordinary tax payer" is shut out from participating. But is that the case?

I have read critiques that stated the success or failure of the plan will be measured by how well it induces "private capital" to buy in. But how "private"?

Bloomberg is estimating today that returns for those buying in could be as high as 25%. It seems to me that a government-funded plan that potentially gets these kinds of returns for the wealthy and big business is one thing, where a plan that offers the same opportunity for small-time investors is another.

I'm withholding my judgment of the plan until I learn more about it, so if anyone has information about who is eligible to participate, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.

can do whatever they want, including buying taxpayer-guaranteed poison.

I did hear they were going to be sold in packages or blocks, but you can be sure there will be mutual funds etc. that will invest primarily in this venture, and anyone can invest in those,.

$50,000
100,000
250,000
1,000,000

We will have to see.

different fund groups, and the mins at the time were $500 on one and $1,000 in the other. Each fund group offered lots of different funds, from very safe but fairly low returns to agressive growth which of course had the highest risk. Sorry, I never had enough $$ to look at anything with mins like you reference!

with $2,000, though I don't recall what the minimum was -- may be been lower. But we'll have to see what the min amount is.

HEre's how you apply
http://treasury.gov/press/releases/reports/legacy_securities_ppif_app.pdf

Here's the main page
http://treasury.gov/press/releases/tg65.htm

There's a FAQ at the bottom there!

Good luck!

so I guess that's partly why the FDIC will approve applications.

That's a mistake, IMO. And disappointing as it definitely sends the message that Treasury is only interested in working with the rich.

But since so many Americans have lost their jobs and their homes, I suspect the "investors" will be the usual suspects...

to the program said they will create a mutual fund for these "legacy assets" so individuals can buy in if they wish.

This was reported on MSNBC's Hardall (I believe it was Hardball) and on CNBC yesterday.