said by justin :

a discount? a discount to what? currently marked down price or a discount to face value?

they are gonna buy them at an amount sufficient to reflate the banks assets. Since most banks have clearly not written them down as much as the market says they are likely to be worth, this means the government will be buying them at a PREMIUM to the already PREMIUM TO MARKET price they are held at.

said by justin :

buying them at anything less than a big premium to their current over-valued state would be useless, because the idea is to re-capitalize the banks (why they can't do this by directly buying preferred shares beats the hell out of me - oh right, because that would dilute shareholders and we can't have that).

If you buy at anything less than a premium to their currently marked value then you make things worse as the banks report larger losses than before and go broke even more quickly.

these elements will be included in the legislation.

* Protection for taxpayers, ensuring THEY share IN ANY profits

-- Cuts the payment of $700 billion in half and conditions future payments on Congressional review

-- Gives taxpayers an ownership stake and profit-making opportunities with participating companies

-- Puts taxpayers first in line to recover assets if participating company fails

-- Guarantees taxpayers are repaid in full -- if other protections have not actually produced a profit

-- Allows the government to purchase troubled assets from pension plans, local governments, and small banks that serve low- and middle-income families

* Limits on excessive compensation for CEOs and executives

-- New restrictions on CEO and executive compensation for participating companies:

-- No multi-million dollar golden parachutes

-- Limits CEO compensation that encourages unnecessary risk-taking

-- Recovers bonuses paid based on promised gains that later turn out to be false or inaccurate

* Strong independent oversight and transparency

-- Four separate independent oversight entities or processes to protect the taxpayer

-- A strong oversight board appointed by bipartisan leaders of Congress

-- A GAO presence at Treasury to oversee the program and conduct audits to ensure strong internal controls, and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse

-- An independent Inspector General to monitor the Treasury Secretary's decisions

-- Transparency -- requiring posting of transactions online to help jumpstart private sector demand

-- Meaningful judicial review of the Treasury Secretary's actions

* Help to prevent home foreclosures crippling the American economy

-- The government can use its power as the owner of mortgages and mortgage backed securities to facilitate loan modifications (such as, reduced principal or interest rate, lengthened time to pay back the mortgage) to help reduce the 2 million projected foreclosures in the next year

-- Extends provision (passed earlier in this Congress) to stop tax liability on mortgage foreclosures

-- Helps save small businesses that need credit by aiding small community banks hurt by the mortgage crisis -- allowing these banks to deduct losses from investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stocks