Paulson: The Worst Is Behind Us

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said U.S. financial markets are emerging from the credit crunch that many economists believe has pushed the country to the brink of recession, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"I do believe that the worst is likely to be behind us," Paulson told the newspaper in an interview.

The Journal said Paulson's comments appear to be the Bush administration's most optimistic assessment yet about the financial turmoil that began last year with defaults on subprime home loans and spread through financial institutions that owned tens of billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[sandiegoconservative]

Good news is bad news on here. Proof that this blog is in bizarro land.

[Rule Of Law]

Before coming to Treasury, Paulson was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs since the firm"s initial public offering in 1999. He joined Goldman Sachs Chicago Office in 1974 and rose through the ranks...

The same Goldman-Sachs that was so instrumental in the first Great Depression? Yeah, I believe him.

[Mike169]

Nah! The worst is still in the White House.

[WorkingClass]

Paulson works for w. Anything he says is either a lie or a misdirection.

[raker]

The Republicans have gone far on their Potemkin Village strategy. Say the economy is healthy and getting healthier and everyone will believe it; build a giant mall ln Baghdad so people can see with their own eyes that Baghdad is a happy place; walk through an Iraqi market under intense military protection, but keep the cameras up close and call it a stroll through a cheerful market. It's all fake. Everything about the Bush administration and its greedy Republican Congress enablers is fake.

[drkazmd65]

Maybe,... MAYBE,... the worst of the times are over for the financial institutions.

But it is just starting to get really hard for the peons that work, live, pay taxes, and drive this economy. We have a good deal of time (years) before we a certain to be past the worst of this crisis for the bulk of us Americans.

But - I will believe it when I see it even for the financial institutions - if inflation continues to bit the working class in the ass, if interest rates start climbing to combat inflation, and if we don't work like hell on developing a sound energy policy NOT driven by oil and stay in Iraq - we will be in this mess for years to come.

It almost makes me wish that Bush had to be in office for a couple more years to deal with the pile of manure he left the rest of us and the new President to clean up. ALMOST.

[Sundialsvc4]

What Americans are truly not considering is that, given that their country has now become a belligerent who is openly threatening the world with "World War Episode III: The Return of the Nukes."

What to do?

Well, how about removing the American Dollar's position as "the world's reserve currency for oil?" It's a dumb idea anyway, to have such a standard, but most-especially now. So, that agreement gets annulled. Oil must be bought and sold on the open market with any one of several currencies. Abruptly, the US Government that's printing (literally) more than $1 million a minute, 24/7/365, is in the position of the Germans after World War I, shoveling Marks into their stoves to use as fuel.

With gasoline now at $65 a gallon (well, at 8:00 in the morning, better hurry) petroleum can only be had from the US's own limited domestic supplies. Imported goods of almost any sort are out of the question. Store shelves empty overnight and it's just not possible to get the fuel to resupply the trucks.

Is this a realistic, albeit non-military strategy? Absolutely it is. But then again you know you can't just flip-it-on like a switch; you've got to apply the thumbscrew gradually. And so, that's what happens.

That's basically what's beginning to happen right now.

[Grandk]

"The worst is behind us." This reminds me of the old horror movies where the killer is lurking in the shadows behind the guy the camera is following, just waiting to deliver the death blow. Next is, "We never saw it coming!" That is because the worst was behind you. You should of turned around, Mr. Clean.

[Sundialsvc4]

September 1929
"There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue." " Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury.

October 14, 1929
"Secretary Lamont and officials of the Commerce Department today denied rumors that a severe depression in business and industrial activity was impending, which had been based on a mistaken interpretation of a review of industrial and credit conditions issued earlier in the day by the Federal Reserve Board." " New York Times

December 5, 1929
"The Government's business is in sound condition." " Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury

June 29, 1930
"The worst is over without a doubt." - James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor.

September 12, 1930
"We have hit bottom and are on the upswing." - James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor.

October 16, 1930
"Looking to the future I see in the further acceleration of science continuous jobs for our workers. Science will cure unemployment." - Charles M. Schwab.

October 21, 1930
"President Hoover has summoned Colonel Arthur Woods to help place 2,500,000 persons back to work this winter." - Washington Dispatch

June 9, 1931
"The depression has ended." - Dr. Julius Klein, Assistant Secretary of Commerce.

{ credit: excerpt from quotes originally compiled at http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/120692 }

[drkazmd65]

Excellent quotes Sundail!

Of course the people that made the mess are going to try and paint a rosey picture - they want to escape with their money when Bush slips into that dark night post-Presidency.

If they don't say crap like this - we are more likely to break out the pitchforks and torches before they have a chance to get out of Dodge.

[joebaggadonuts]

Great quotes. Context: October 24, 1929, Black Thursday, October 28, 1929, Black Monday, October 29, 1929, Black Tuesday. Equivalating (to coin a new Bushism) across time frames puts Paulson's statement at June 29, 1930 or there abouts. So we already had the crash? Or is Paulson just a premature exclamitator?

[GreedyOldPsychopaths]

"Paulson: The Worst Is Behind Us"

Now, besides knowing the economy is in the toilet, we are aware that Paulson must be suffering from a severe case of hemorrhoids.

[Rule Of Law]

I don't believe that he has "passed" the worst of it onto us yet.

[dadw5boys]

Behind us???

I doubt it prices have risen so fast that many fixed rate homeloans are not headed for trouble!

People who never had a problem paying the loans will be in dire straights by November, espically those who must heat with oil.

Home values droping while property taxes went up they can't afford to stay warm????

House gotta go!

[Chavez08]

Cripes!!! Are there no lengths these cerebrally-challenged robber-barons will go to to try to save Neoliberalism from its' impending doom?

Note to Washington: Undo "Reaganomics"/"Neoliberal Markets" or we the people will undo it for you!

The people are pissed, and you should be very worried.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Worst is behind us?

Yeah, 7 out of 8 years.

[CaptainHowdy]

We'll see what happens when all the Alt-A loans start resetting sometime next year...

Mr Mortgage - HERE COMES THE ALT-A CRISIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmeBSWI9sF8

[FredOCal]

Absolutely. The first wave of 2005 Alt-A's should be resetting this fall, so get ready. I actually think the full-blown depression will begin in earnest by the end of the summer.

[joebaggadonuts]

Remember that Paulson was hired by Bush who also hired Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Brownie. I don't see this as any more predictive of the future than this administration's statements about how easy the Iraq adventure would be. (Mission Accomplished, They will greet us with flowers, Just a bunch of dead enders, The Iraqi oil will pay for the war (hmm, did they actually say that last one?), etc.)

[Sumocat]

Word. And let's not forget this is the administration that keeps issuing tax rebates to offset rising fuel costs. Why fix the problems when you can just throw borrowed money at them to cover up the effects?