Can we successfully convince ourselves to value assets the market has deemed trash? According to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, we can. GeithnerâÄôs much-anticipated TARF plan would remove up to $1 trillion in so-called âÄúlegacy assetsâÄù âÄî those once-popular and extremely overvalued financial products at the root of this crisis âÄî from banksâÄô balance sheets, encouraging banks to lend again and âÄúlaying the foundations for economic recovery.âÄù But this asset bubble has already burst, and it did so for a reason. At the clutches of greedy investment bankers we allowed our global economy to incorporate vast quantities of extremely overvalued securities and mortgages. Now that the unfathomable truth has come to light, the powers that be, namely Geithner, are pulling out every smoke and mirror to convince us into believing the lie again. But the plan amounts to little more than transforming our own government into super-insurer AIG to oversee the reinflation of the very same toxic asset bubble that so fiercely burst last year. Investors have shown a leeriness to buy the âÄúlegacy assetsâÄù for a reason: they are trash; they are a house of cards which crumbles at the slightest onset of economic downturn. Our government cannot successfully legitimize trash as value, and to attempt this feat will cost billions of dollars. In fact, Geithner assumes that âÄúlack of clarity about the value of these legacy assetsâÄù is at the core of our crisis. But the markets are shrewd, they have certainty: they are certain the toxic assets are worthless. It is the ensuing correction from that realization we are experiencing, not uncertainty. We must not reinflate our bubble and undo the painful corrective progress we have already made. That faith and patience is the true foundation for economic recovery.