Geithner: Plan will work but not overnight

While tax cheat Geithner is preening in front of the cameras, nobody's at home minding the store. From the British newspaper The Telegraph:

"The British Government is finding it "unbelievably difficult" to prepare for the G20 summit because no one in the US Treasury department is answering their calls, Britain's top civil servant Gus O'Donnell has said."

Read more at www.telegraph.co.uk

What is with Geithner? He refuses to say anything publicly or directly to Congress, business leaders, etc., then goes on Charlie Rose (of all people...) and explains the Obama fix perfectly.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

"Change," be sure and ask your senators to speed up confirmation of the nominees for those positions in Treasury so someone can answer the phones.

Reviewing what is happening with the new Obama economy; broken promises, continuing banking and credit mayhem, bailout mania, housing depreciation and market turmoil, job loses and layoffs, tanking WS markets, faltering stimulus, a menu of new taxes coming, and a dossier of Democrat Congressional debt spending and a rush to alter American capitalism, creating a every increasing nanny socialist state, why should we be concerned. Things are looking up. There is now talk of a second stimulus pork package to fix the first failure. Nancy dreamed it up during a private Air Force jet trip home as she plotted to expose the "fat cats" greed. Has Turbo Tim finally spoken? Now he is off to Europe to fix up the global economy. Hope everyone was watching Charlie"s show, maybe they could replay it for Congress instead of a live non answer appearance.

I found the interview with Geithner very encouraging. He talked in detail and was a good advocate for the Obama approach. Clearly a very bright guy. And for pete's sake, people need to have some patience.

"mort", if you read the news you'd know that a) there currently aren't any Treasury nominations pending to these posts; and b) the Senate that confirms nominees is controlled by Obama's own party, the Dems. Put another way, Obama controls both the nominating and confirming process--and has failed at both.

The Obama Treasury Department is an international embarrassment.

Don't make a fool of yourself "Change"
There are nominees for Treasury positions; or perhaps you are a better source than the Wall Street Journal? Also, as you should know, ALL senators have the ability to slow down nominations for variuois stupid reasons, as many Republicans such as Cornyn have done. You are the embarrassment.

Bubba Porter, since you are so grumpy today, I have a quote from my distant cousin for you.....

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
-- Will Rogers

See this story on HuffPo:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/11/jim-cramer-shorting-stock_n_173824.html

Is this interview hitting MSM? I was impressed with the tone of the interview...confident, earnest, plausible. BUT, Charlie Rose was not exactly in control of this interview. Almost as if he wants his guest to succeed. Felt like the tough questions were not asked and Geithner got off topic. Still, the messenger sounded better than ever.

I saw that performance last night.

It was not very convincing.

He's a fast talker. Nothing but generalities, totally meaningless.

But then the interlocutor wasn't very swift either. Charlie Rose is a buddy of John Mack and others of his ilk. Don't expect any hard hitting questions from him about who really caused the mess.

Ornery,

I was told yesterday that "ornery" is my middle name. So, I have to say that your comments are spot on. It really does disappoint me that someone of Rose's intellect is going to fall for being good ole boys with the like of John Mack. Instead, Rose should be examining grounds for indictments and prison sentences. Is anyone on the case? To avenge these crimes is being written off as shallow populist mob rule. I will speculate that once structural changes work their way into our new-new deal some token heads will role...a year down the road and certainly not sooner.

"Mort", a friendly suggestion: until you learn to spell simple words such as "variuois" correctly, or even come close to the correct spelling, I'd suggest that you refrain from calling other people "stupid."

Please excuse the typo; I didn't call anyone stupid, Change, not even you.

Thank you, Jasper.

Many decades ago, when a lad of 9, a sister in law commented more than once, "you are Ornery".
Which I adopted. It sounded better than what a great aunt called me, "Peck's Bad Boy".

That should date it a bit.

I'm sure Geithner is working hard. I just hope it's on the right thing.

But seriously, Leonhardt has a pice in the NYT with the not surprising observation that when the govt. insures accounts but is lax in overseeing them, disaster is the recipe.

As in: S & L debacle under Ronnie and George I.

Resolution Trust Corporation and all that.

I figured there would be another such episode when Clinton and the Repicans repealed Glass Steagall Act of 1933.

I already had figured Clinton was a a triangulatin' huckster and not really a Democrat long before (before Monica and way before Marc Rich).

I thought: "What the hell are they trying to do? Precipitate another Crash of 1929?"

Guess I was right.

Anyway I cashed out of stocks 2 years ago.

The interesting thing about Geithner is: he doesn't seem to draw any correlation between the causes of the debacle and the vague bromides--meaningless verbiage really--he was spouting last night to Charlie.

Why, for example, would you keep on giving billions to the same executives who a. screwed up in the first place, amd b., paid themselves bonuses out of the first windfall?

Kash & Karry said today at a hearing that you do this because these are the people who are "closer to the local conditions" and who will make more prudent lending decisions than some "govt. bureaucrat".

So, there you have it: the talking points never change, even as the Titanic is about to upend and head downward in a final, accellerated dive.

Why is this guy any where near the money button??

How much longer is the biggest bank heist of all time going to be permitted to continue?

ornery,
Good one. You really hit the bloody, gangrenous thumb with that one.

Glass/Steagall repeal is one of the biggest mistakes along the way. I remember shaking my head wondering WTH!

And Bill nicely summarized it's purpose; "...to facilitate capital flows across the globalized markets...", to paraphrase.

And yes, one of the biggest lies the Republicans told about Clinton; "He's a liberal."

Glass/Steagall needs to be restored post haste.

But it doesn't look likely. The integration of banking, Wall St. investment houses, and insurance may be so complete that it's impossible to undue,,,,, until we get to 1933 levels and the politicians find the courage.

I have always thought in these situations somebody real deserving should be dragged out and hung. (Figuratively, of course!)

"Geithner: Plan will work but not overnight."


Translation: "We really don't know if it will work, and it probably won't since we didn't do anything genuinely stimulative, but if the economy happens to recover on its own eventually, in spite of all our blind, reckless bumblings, we'll claim credit for it."