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
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 !!!!!!!
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
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
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.
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?
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.