Cross-border rescues: Resolution time

If only financial giants could be allowed to fail in a safe way. Lehman Brothers could have gone bust without the global financial system suffering a cardiac arrest; the likes of AIG and Citigroup wouldn’t have needed to be propped up with tens of billions of taxpayers’ money. But is this just a pipedream? Tim Geithner last week gave the impression that it was not – if only the US had the necessary powers to seize financial institutions that are teetering on the brink. The Treasury secretary th...