A Man, A Plan, A Catastrophe: Geithner!
Not again!
I really have to delete my Aura Cristina Geithner files (but who has that much time?)
Besides, she appears to have more professional colleagues than this guy:
[T]oday’s scoop on the plan from Tim Geithner and Barack Obama on how to fix the economy. To no one’s great surprise, it involves more regulation and intervention by the government, but the only thing clear about it is that Geithner and Obama still don’t have specifics.
Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system.
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And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.
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The big splash for this story was that it showed the Obama administration going after executive pay, even in areas where government regulation doesn’t reach now. However, a closer look at the Times article shows that the Obama administration has no idea how it will do it, where it will go, or even if it wants to take that leap in any real way:
The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation.
In other words, on the 62nd day of his administration, President Obama and Lonesome Tim Geithner haven’t a freakin’ clue what to do, except, probably, to nail wealthy executives to the cross.
The only consistent lesson in the entire economic breakdown we’ve been living through is that government intervention—be it from Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Henry Paulson, Tim Geithner, et al—leads to ruin.
I suppose I should amend that to say that governments (and their central banks) have a role to play, just not the one they’ve been playing.