P.M. BRIEFING : S&L; Buyer Defends Purchase
- Share via
WASHINGTON — Businessman James Fail, who bought 15 failed Texas savings and loans with only $1,000 of his own money, told Congress today that the deal was saving American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Fail told a Senate Antitrust subcommittee hearing that the thrifts were losing $2 million a day before he bought them in 1988 and combined them into the profitable Bluebonnet Savings Bank of Dallas.
“Bluebonnet already was saving the American taxpayer over $100 million as compared with continuing the operations of the 15 insolvent thrifts,” Fail testified. He said liquidating the thrifts would have cost the government $600 million.
“Bluebonnet is part of the solution to the savings and loan crisis, not a part of the problem,” Fail added. He also owns several insurance companies and a bank in Oklahoma in addition to Bluebonnet.
Chairman Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) countered that Bluebonnet was profitable only because of billions of dollars in federal subsidies.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
