Savings and Loan Bailout

Secretary of the Treasury, Nicholas Brady, spoke on the eve of the first anniversary of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, commonly called the "Savings and Loan Bailout." This act is the most costly economic recovery act ever undertaken by the government. Secretary Brady reported on the progress of the thrift industry's highly politicized restructuring and recovery. The "clean-up operation" is based on four key principles: 1) Make sure people get their money back; 2) Restore safety to thrift industry through sound, strict regulations; 3) Close down and sell insolvent thrifts swiftly and efficiently to minimize taxpayer costs; and, 4) Aggressively prosecute the criminals and fraudulent operators who stole the taxpayers' money. The details of the events, accounting activities and legislation that led up to the current thrift crisis were chronicled. Mr. Brady became the Treasury Secretary in 1988 after a 34-year corporate career. In 1982 he was appointed to complete a vacated Senate term. He was educated at Yale and Harvard.