Chapter 11
Killing Zombies and Preventing Their Return
In late 2008, when banks worldwide were bleeding with huge losses from the subprime crisis, and the U.S. Congress had just given authority to the administration to buy some of the bad assets from the banks, Thomas M. Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, called up his colleagues at the Swedish central bank. Because the Swedes’ handling of their banking crisis a decade earlier is considered to be among the best reactions and approaches to such a disaster, Hoenig wanted to get some details about how they’d done it. The Swedish officials were very helpful and thorough with their explanation of the way failing banks were swiftly cleaned up and returned to health in ...
