Picking winners and losers in the banking industry

We've suggested here that the trickiest part of the entire TARP is the price at which the Treasury will buy specific assets. But the asset picking seems to have been put on the back burner in favor of direct investments in banks, which seems to be a good idea. Business Week suggests that the Treasury still has some tricky picking to do. It must decided which banks it will invest in, and which it will let die. Not every bank that applies will receive aid. The regulators have jointly come up with some objective criteria--embodied in a uniform application. Business Week notes there are other actions the Treasury could take. It may push some toward mergers. It may invest in some merged banks. The application deadline is Nov. 14.

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