With banks raising capital, is there still a need for a government-orchestrated effort to get toxic assets off bank books? WSJ economics editor David Wessel explains that while it is possible for a recovery to happen without removing the bad assets from the banks' balance sheets, the toxic assets remain a distraction. So the big question still remains: Do we need a "bad" bank to take these assets away from the "good" banks?

With banks raising capital, is there still a need for a government-orchestrated effort to get toxic assets off bank books?