But officials said Mr. Geithner worried that the plan would not work — and could become more expensive for taxpayers — if there were too much government involvement in the affairs of the companies.
[snip]
The White House is hoping that its rescue plan will be perceived as a more coherent rescue effort than the Bush administration’s, and one whose breadth and scope are so vast that it begins to restore financial confidence in the battered markets and entices private investors to come off the sidelines.
Hoping? After last night's press conference, Obama assured the American public that there would be tight financial strings attached to the second round of TARP money.
Change we can believe in? I'm laughing so hard my coffee is coming out of my nose. Obama may be able to give a great speech, but he seems incompetent to get anything "changed" in Washington.
Hilzoy's take is exceptional. Give it your entire attention. Long piece, but well worth the read.
You can see the issue in a nutshell in this passage from the NYT:
"And for all of its boldness, the plan largely repeats the Bush administration's approach of deferring to many of the same companies and executives who had peddled risky loans and investments at the heart of the crisis and failed to foresee many of the problems plaguing the markets."
Obama may have been much more eloquent in saying pretty much the same thing Bush has always said: "It's hard work being President."
1 comment:
The condition of the economy does not surprise me. Maybe I even expected it sooner. But I knew the reckoning was coming in the 90's when Americans elected - with a vengeance - legislators who set new low standards of indifference & unaccountability. The signal that America was really falling came when our own government started a war & asked us not to pay any attention to it & shop instead. We still haven't taken our heads out of our asses. Where the hell are all the Obamaniacs now?
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