Comments on: Timothy Geithner On Charlie Rose

By: Jimmy the Dhimmi

Jimmy the Dhimmi — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:46:29 +0000

unethical, selfish people who manipulate power for their own gain are the problem – where ever they may work

Unless they work for the HUD, Fannie & Freddie, or the SEC and then they are OK.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:30:36 +0000

Thatâ€™s besides the fact that these bailouts are happening at the expense of responsible citizens who played by the rules and lived within their means.

I’m extremely sympathetic to this dynamic, and to the conundrum it poses for a democracy. I share the views of any folks who are upset at how they are being punished for the poor and misguided decisions of the irresponsible and the greedy.

Sadly, this still leaves me rowing in the same boat as the rest of these folks in several very important senses: I am still an American citizen and an American voter stuck living with the same economy as the rest of the people.

How do the responsible protect themselves from the irresponsible, when its possible for the irresponsible to act foolishly and then vote for people who will provide mitigations for their missteps?

I don’t see how one can entirely escape from concluding that one must accept some bailouts after such missteps. I also don’t see how one can entirely escape from concluding that one ought to henceforth try to constrain the irresponsible from acting quite as irresponsibly as they may wish. Some forms of regulation, in other words.

By: mike mcEachran

mike mcEachran — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:03:00 +0000

My money’s on vwcat. You know why, SD3? Because we’ve heard this schtick before:

“[Giethner is] the disease, not the cure.”

We know, we know…”government IS the problem.” But see, we’ve learned what happens when some (neocons) come into government and dismantle it for their own gain, because they think it IS the problem. We lose. So we learned the lesson – governement isn’t the problem – unethical, selfish people who manipulate power for their own gain are the problem – where ever they may work. So it really comes down to the credibility of the individual and the philosphy they espouse. Obama is credible. The “other side” is not. Please hold on to vwcat’s assessment, and mine, too. Generous of you to give this team 12 months. It’s more than most are giving them at least. You’re on.

By: kasey d

kasey d — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:16:28 +0000

SD3, how did he help create it? bad mortgages, fraudulent investments, an instant-gratification and debt-up-to-our-eyeballs culture have been going on for years, for more than a decade. sure, geithner may not be our financial messiah (i dont like the ‘bailouts’ any more than the next guy), but this administration INHERITED a huge mess. fact.

By: SD3

SD3 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:29:49 +0000

...Andrea Mitchell admitted that the gotcha journalism is out of control in regard to this administration. "in regard to this administration?" Are you kidding? Geithner is doing a great job and knows what heâ€™s doing. Ok, vwcat. But I'm going to hold you to that assessment 12 months from now. Tim Geithner helped create this inflated mess; he's the disease, not the cure.

By: vwcat

vwcat — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:35:43 +0000

I heard today Andrea Mitchell admitted that the gotcha journalism is out of control in regard to this administration.
The Giethner is doing fine. What the problem is is that our media, spurred on by republicans egging and spin, think our banking system should be saved in a month and half.
Nevermind the recession is a over a year old, where nothing was done to nip it and deal with it, a 30 year culture of the cult of Wall Street and complete deregulation and now everyone is expecting the administration, Geithner and Obama in particular, to fix it with a snap of their fingers.
This is not drama television where everything is solved in an hour.
And yet we hear a constant drone of a parade of pundits whining about ‘why isn’t it fixed yet’ and blaming the Treasury Sec. for it.
They have to realized that the mindset of instant gratification is over.
It’s going to take awhile to fix this mess. We have been destroying the economy for a long time and it’s going to take longer than that to fix it.
Geithner is doing a great job and knows what he’s doing.
It’s the establishment with their daily complaining that Geithner is not up to it and neither is the president because they have not fix all the problems in the country in a month and half.

By: ExiledIndependent

ExiledIndependent — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:52:11 +0000

I have trouble with many of his post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies. Higher tax rates are good because tax rates were higher during a time of economic prosperity. Hrmm?

By: Alistair

Alistair — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:05:16 +0000

That’s why Larry Summers is their supervising him.

By: SD3

SD3 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:40:18 +0000

I watched that this morning and frankly, I just don’t understand how anyone can subscribe to the basic elements of his his economic philosophy. I don’t care how smart he thinks he is.

Borrowing more money to bailout failed, incompetent institutions and irresponsible investors is fundamentally unsound and a threat to our nation’s security.

That’s besides the fact that these bailouts are happening at the expense of responsible citizens who played by the rules and lived within their means.