New York Post

"Our banks are taking the TARP funds and surviving" rather than using the federal relief to make loans, said Bruce Mosler, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield. He called on Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to make decisions on mark to market and removing toxic assets from banks' balance sheets.

Douglas Durst, CEO of the Durst Organization, proposed a different course of federal action than the approach that's been favored--if not actually pursued--in Washington. Rather than buying bad assets from banks, Durst suggested, Treasury should buy "top-tier" ones and require banks to recycle the proceeds into loans. It's a renewal of lending activity that Durst would like to be able to take advantage of: asked by moderator Lois Weiss what it would take for his company to start acquiring properties again, Durst responded, "Financing. We're not going to buy with 100% equity."

During the event's second panel, a discussion of the challenges in obtaining debt, the Carlton Group's Howard Michaels outlined a plan of his own. Michaels' plan would impose a six-month amnesty period of relaxed mark-to-market rules, and would have Treasury provide TALF funds to the private sector, which would then buy toxic assets.