(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
The New Yorker and The Atlantic are running twin puff pieces on how – they hate to admit it but – Timmy G saved the economy.
Economists are still debating what it was that ended the financial crisis and turned the economy around. It is inarguable, though, that Geithner’s stabilization plan has proved more effective than many observers expected, this one included.
Whereas the Atlantians suggest that our fabled civilization was not destroyed by the gods for excess greed and corruption, ’cause Timmeh held back the thunderbolts with hizown chest:
Yet when the history books are written, Geithner will be recognized as Barack Obama’s key lieutenant in the struggle to right the economy and fix the finance system. Economically, Geithner’s plan has worked better and more cheaply than anyone could have imagined a year ago.
The twin, virtually interchangeable pieces appearing at the same time and having extremely similar, if not identical overall angles is prolly just a coincidence, as opposed to a controlled marketing campaign, don’tcha think?
Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know they can relax. Everything’s hunky dory now and Tim G is an elfin sizzle chest whose athleticism “inspires an adolescent awe in male colleagues.”
Time and space constraints didn’t allow either magazine to ponder exactly how “recovery” means that Geithner abetted the largest fraud cover-up in history.
Nor did they get into the brass tacks of different theories on the recovery, whether the stock market rallied based on true-believers and their dumb money, the temporary wall of money provided by the Fed, inflationary monetary policy, after-hours, high-frequency trading, and front-running, the Fed itself buying stocks, or whether the market rally was based simply on continued fraudulent accounting of assets.
Now that you mention it, there was minimal examination of who and what actually recovered, or exactly how long they expect said recovery to last. There wasn’t a whole lot of time spent examining persistent joblessness, continuing foreclosures, bankrupt states and municipalities, and the fact that newly bankrupted banks are expected to outstrip last year’s banking collapse.
Come to think of it, there wasn’t a whole lot of chatter about the banks now being bigger and failer, little to no discussion of the ever-present and looming dangers of credit default swaps, or how financial reform and consumer protections are being gutted.
Such considerations might be considered “headwinds or constraints on growth going forward,” according to Geithner’s baseline principle of “First, growth,” because without growth, can you imagine what those toxic assets and credit default swaps would be worth? Not to mention the Fed’s balance sheet.
The value of everything depends on growth going forward. Lots of it. And confidence, too. Mentioning the flat-lining corpse in the room isn’t conducive to life.
Otherwise, they were both great pieces on Tim G, boy wonder and financial firefighter, who saved the day.
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the douchebag parasite eugenics endorsing little boy fucking steal from Grandma and giggle at crushing childrens testicles Geithner. Did I successfully illustrate the personal contempt I have for this globalist minion of Satan from the bowels of hell.
also included a closed door, hush-hush session with selected Prog Blog A listers at the Treasury.
Aravosis’ star struck reaction was positively embarassing:
Of course, John’s preoccupation with the huge, amazing, beautiful, stunning, gold framed furnishings couldn’t possibly affect his objectivity about the meeting itself, could it?
Time for bed John, you’ve had a big day.
I’m sure Sec. Geitner is an appealing person. He sounds a lot like Alexander Hamilton a brilliant, young, and charming man. Charming men and women are not uncommon in the corridors of power. Both Bushes, I am told by those who met them, are charming in person — make eye contact and feel “present”. For the naive American intellectual ungrounded in the classics and philosophy charm and style are everything.
The example you give, CF, is right on the money and has been repeated over and over again and displays the weakness of the left in this country, i.e., it is only skin deep. There is no solid theoretical and philosophical underpinning to the American left. We have to remember that, for a couple of decades, the rich tradition of Marxism was all but banned in this country from universities so the left developed a kind of cartoon Marxism that dissipated as soon as someone blew the smoke away. The American left is founded on vague populist tendencies and romantic visions of the Founder’s intentions but it is too vague and unsystematic to be a foundation of any movement.
Fact is, T. Geitner may well have brilliantly saved the system but the system, from a true left perspective, is clearly fucked-up. We can love our enemies, in fact we ought to, but they are still our enemies.