Posted by
Bill Crawford on Thursday, February 12, 2009 3:42:18 PM
The original thought of Secretary Paulson last year was to use public money to neutralize what most agreed was the center of the economic maelstrom, the bad mortgages. his was the modus operandi that drove Congress to allow the rapid and (even by their standards) uncontrolled dispersal of the better part of a trillion dollars into the banking industry.
And the bankers have done a wonderful job of announcing to the world that, while thankful for the money, they weren't about to change their habits at all.
Which leads to two concurrent political tragedies being played out as we speak. First, a "stimulus" bill which is supposed to counter the crisis at hand. If the second coming of TARP is supopsed to re-address the mortgage question, what the hell is the stimulus bill for? Obama has left a considerable amount of poliical capital on the table for this, and is already starting to pay for it. First, his rhetoric about raising hope over fear flies in the face of him giving ominous warnings of permanent ruination if this bill is not passed. Second, his talk about being a post-partisan President belies his negotiating tactics with Republicans, which have been ham-handed and almost dictatorial. Third, his promises of transparency fly in the face of the bill being negotiated behind closed doors, often only with Democrats in the room.
The other tragedy is pushing the need for speed on the new TARP appropriation, and then sending out a 'deer in the headlights' Treasury Secretary to try and sell it by admitting that nobody really knows how they are going to use the money yet. They want the money now, and the specifics will be coming "soon". How's that? This is the man that had to be nominated even though he couldn't navigate Turbo Tax?
Who the hell is in charge here? Every time Obama, Reid and Pelosi look in the mirror, they all see the answer to that question. All I see is a witches brew that has just enough votes to be enacted into disaster.