Scott Ott
Geithner's 'Legacy Assets Roadshow' Comes to PBS
By: Scott Ott
Examiner Columnist
March 24, 2009
News fairly unbalanced. We report. You decipher
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today announced a public-public partnership with PBS to produce and host a program tentatively dubbed 'Legacy Assets Roadshow', with a format reminiscent of the network's popular 'Antiques Roadshow.'
Part adventure, part history lesson, and part treasure hunt, the Legacy Assets Roadshow hopes to "tap the viewer's ongoing curiosity about whether that dusty old thing that looks virtually worthless might turn out to be a precious keepsake worth big bucks."
Geithner plans to travel to locations around the nation inviting bankers and other financial firm executives to bring in mortgages, mortgaged-backed securities and other items formerly known as "troubled or toxic" but now called "legacy" assets. At the mobile "Roadshow" studio, Geithner and a panel of leading financial experts will offer their appraisals of the debt instruments.
"It's like discovering grandma's old hope chest in the attic and then finding out what its contents are worth," said Geithner. "Our Legacy Assets Roadshow cameras will capture the atmosphere of eager anticipation as bank executives hope their trash can turn to treasure. Of course, most of the time, the paper has nothing but sentimental value...but the speculation will have you on the edge of your seat."
Unlike the Antiques Roadshow, Geithner said that on his show appraisals will be followed by offers from financial firms and wealthy individuals to purchase the heirlooms. The buyers will put down 10 percent of the appraised value, and get the other 90 percent from Geithner, whose crew will actually print legal-tender U.S. currency on the spot.
"We got the idea for the show," said Geithner, "when we realized that this economic crisis has all the elements of great entertainment -- jeopardy, unexpected twists, and a happy ending when the U.S. taxpayer comes to the rescue of the banker in distress. As PBS fundraisers like to say, 'TV worth watching is TV worth paying for'."
Examiner columnist Scott Ott is editor in chief of ScrappleFace.com, the family-friendly news satire site, and anchor of ScrappleFace Network News (SNN), seen on YouTube.
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