Okay, Geithner's a Bust. Next? Hey, How 'bout...

Nobody anywhere knows how to fix what the Brits are calling the worst economic debacle in 100 years (i.e. worse than the Depression). Nobody really even has a firm point of view. So what do you do if it's your job to fix it?

One of Timothy Geithner's problems is that he looks insubstantial. He's boyish, cute even. And there's his kid-caught-at-cookie-jar smile. Oh, and then the fact that he's as confused about paying taxes as anybody else. Oh, yes, then too that he was the head of the New York Fed when Wall Street was blowing apart. If confidence is the name of the game, he sure hadn't come to the treasury secretary's job with a built-in advantage.

It may be that the thing most needed here is certainty. Consensus and good feeling aren't going to do it. Paul Krugman went after the Obama people the other day for courting bipartisanship. But Krugman is mostly looking for the president to use the present mess to gain liberal ground. He may be missing the larger point that it is not just having the guts to take a position, but having a certain brutishness, and arrogance, and hail Mary courage to ram your plan through. You've got to have righteous growl: If you doubt us, then the blame's on you.

Of course, having a position helps, instead of what there is now, which is more of the same, but spending more money to do it.

But mostly it's brutishness. A mean, implacable, contemptuous, arrogant face, willing to shoulder the burden and take the blame: That's the ticket.

Obviously, that person's available. It's hard to find a bigger brute than Larry Summers. We need a son of a bitch. We need him to be our son of a bitch...

Continue reading at newser.com

Comments

[dadw5boys]

Geithner did it right.

He left the banks to repair the mess they made.

the U.S. Treasury is the leander of last resort.

Banks need to use the FBI and put some of their buddies in Jail for Collusion and Fraud !!!!!!!

[davidly]

Brutishness and arrogance? Chavez.

[davidly]

Brutishness? Chavez.

[AndrewMerrick]

I'm sure there will be some false starts on the road to shoring up not only the economy but also the trust of the American people in the process.

But, you know, with so much at stake we can't just give up and stop trying. We need to work together to get this problem solved, whatever it takes.

I'm hoping that in the end we will be more concerned with our own digital security as a nation than just getting and keeping a job. That's a huge issue as well.

http://www.justaskgemalto.com

[camper65]

Is Karl Marx dead? He'd be perfect. I mean, just look at how well his ideas worked in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe!

[skymuffin]

Are you talking about Communism? Oh, the evil! We should never deal with Communists! Ack! Take a look at all of your stuff? Where does it come from? Communist China! Run!

[davidly]

When was Marxism implemented in the Soviet Union?

[jsarets]

I'll go back to the first pick that I made back on the eve of election day, Sheila C. Bair. Great at FDIC, perfect for Treasury. She's the only regulator that really knows how to seize and restructure insolvent banks -- and isn't afraid to do so:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/03/rumor-mill-what-could-an_n_140777.html?show_comment_id=17624903#comment_17624903

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/14/fdic-treasury-clash-on-an_n_144019.html?show_comment_id=18018964#comment_18018964

[ldsb]

Agree. She sticks to her guns when others disagree with her actions- Geithner wanted her shelved...wonder why.

[AContrario]

The Obama Administration's "intellectual myopia" in finding
new approaches to this mess, is worrisome. Obama more than anyone should
know that good judgement, decision-making or creativity skillls have nothing
to do with being a newcomer, outsider and inexperienced. Yet he picks the
like of Lawrence Summers or worst,Geithner ? They are all wall st insiders
and they would'nt know how to start thinking out of the box if you show them a
box.

[jcwtts1]

Wow, you can tell how well someone is going to do in a week. That is how long since his confirmation right? Let me give you some basic functional political reality. He is going to stay for 4 years at least. Wall Street is stuck with him. It is as simple and as complex as that. Summers is a disastrous choice. He was thrown out of Harvard after offending just about everyone on the planet. If that weren't enough, his fiscal strategies are part of what got us into this mess in the first place. Giethner, as shocking as it sounds, comes to this with relatively clean hands. Wall Street thought it was going to get paid off yesterday and it didn't. The drop was the result of the financials realizing that they were going to have to eat the bad bundles. They freaked and Giethner did a lousy job selling it. He'll get better. His job isn't to sell stuff.

[melissamsouza]

The least you can say is that it was a terrible first impression. He will need to pull Herculean strength to regain credibility. And his plan, even in broad, general outlines, seems to stink. If you read between the very big, wide lines, he wants to use endless amounts of tax payer money to bail out his friends at all costs, when these friends should be FIRED period.

[fishgirl26]

I said this morning to my boyfriend, Geithner will be out by next week. The American public is having trouble stomaching him and with this botching of the announcement yesterday he may decide that he wants to "spend more time with his family"--you know, that catch all phrase that lets him off the hook. Bring on another, we can take it. President Obama can admit that he made a mistake, he already did with Daschel who, I believe, the american public would take.

[DannyDanson]

WOw, if people here have such a adept grasp of the underlying structural deficiencies which, if fixed would magically give us cheap credit and GDP growth again, then they should run for office, they could win in any state in the union. People are understandably upset with this stituation, but come on, COME ON, !COME ON! 1 week. Stop buying talking points and one liners from well-to-do pundits with at vested interest in this new reality show their constructing "America". Nothing he could have proposed would have made these people hopeful, the situation isn't hopeful, it's dire. Geithner's most significant comment was the fact that the FED would back,or purchase upwards of a Trillion dollars plus of toxic mortgage back assets, that huge! if you consider the Presidents entire approach to this crisis, a three legged stool he called it, Spending Stimulus, Stabilization for the financial sector, an lastly back-stoping forclosures and the housing crisis, This was the 2nd leg of the stool, Tim G. is not a politician, he's a professional, if you want someone to tell the the fundamentals are strong, find John McCain

[BeckyJustice]

What on earth was with Geithner's speech? Whole long segments, looking at the camera out of the corner of his eye, with his face turned almost completely away? I sure hope the new TV show, "Lie to me" does a segment on that.

The DOW sure caught on quick.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/no-tough-love-for-wall-st_b_165878.html

"Geithner and White House economic czar Lawrence Summers won out over David Axelrod and other Obama advisers more loyal to the wishes of grass-roots voters; "... as intended by Mr. Geithner, the plan stops short of intruding too significantly into bankers' affairs even as they come onto the public dole."

Gee, maybe we should have voted for David Axelrod for President. I feel deceived. What happened to President Obama's assurance that there would be strings attached, so the Banker's couldn't line their own pockets with Taxpayer money yet again? I really thought we could trust you President Obama. What a let down.

But then, I started getting the message when you voiced the opinion that Geithner was the only one qualified for the post. Do you not realize how much that sounds like the Bankers? They have to pay their CEOs millions (financed by taxpayers of course) because they are the only ones making sure to run their banks so far into the gutter that they are eligible for taxpayer funds.... How else can they make the taxpayers into paupers?

[lovethesinner]

Stigitz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Stiglitz

[ScarletKnight1307]

I think they have the right general approach but with all due respect there was no reason to make this announcement because it was so general. You people have to stop giving up on people who have been in office for 2 weeks to make the most important decisions that will affect all of us and the banking industry for the next 10 years plus.

[mommadona]

One thing that will come of this (if these overpaid COC shills keep walking round with that finger up the fourth point of contact).

People will take the market in hand by beginning to focus their purchases as LOCALLY as they can.
Many people in my area moved their funds to locally owned banks. It was a good move.
Food = Nearer = Fresher
Quality will count.
Function and wear will count.

This paradigm switch will allow probably the most savvy young consumers to mold the market to their model of their future.

Think globally, shop locally.
It is the American Way.