Accessibility links
Live Chat: Should U.S. Nationalize Banking System? U.S. taxpayers are already the biggest shareholders of Citigroup and Bank of America. But how far should the government go? Adam Davidson and a couple of economists try to answer the question.
Special Series

NPR Live Chats

Whether on politics or pop culture, NPR journalists hosts chats every week.

Live Chat: Should U.S. Nationalize Banking System?

Chat Participants

Adam Davidson

Adam Davidson, NPR's international business and economics correspondent

Simon Johnson

Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz professor of entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management

Arnold Kling

Arnold Kling, has worked as a staff economist of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and a senior economist at Freddie Mac

Nationalizing the banking system is a prospect pretty much every politician avoids talking about. But after the first $350 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program was distributed, American taxpayers became the biggest shareholders in Citigroup (7.8 percent) and Bank of America (6 percent).

A new year finds the banks still in trouble, even after a second round of TARP funding. Now, NPR's Adam Davidson and a couple of expert economists took on the big question: Should the U.S. nationalize the banking system?

You can read an archive of the chat, below. And you can join the discussion in the comments section.