WASHINGTON - March 27 - The Real News' Paul Jay spoke with Thomas Ferguson, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, to get his thoughts on the Geithner plan for bank reform. 

"I would have done it the way Roosevelt did it in the New Deal, or with some variation what the Swedes did in the early 1990s," says Ferguson.  

He argues instead, the Obama administration has "put the cart before the horse." 

"One of the striking things about the Geithner program yesterday was he's busily announcing his program before he does the stress test on the banks. Remember, they're supposed to find out the condition of the banks," says Ferguson. 

No one wants to ask the banks whether they're solvent or not because they're afraid they're not, argues Ferguson.

It's the banking version of don't ask, don't tell, he says.

"Every four years my slogan is I'll tell you who bought your candidate before you vote for him or her....You get what you pay for, and they paid.  I'm sorry to say, the people who caused the problem are to a very large degree the folks who were primary backers of Obama." 

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