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Geithner-Obama Economics: A Joke That's Not Funny

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Geithner-Obama Economics: A Joke That's Not Funny

By Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent 3/13/09

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 12, 2009, before the Senate Budget Committee hearing on the economy. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) When they start making jokes about you, it's hard to recover. And that's what is happening now to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

It's not just "Saturday Night Live" poking fun at him -- you saw the skit depicting a Geithner so clueless that he offered a huge reward to anyone who called his hotline, 1-800-IDEAS, with a plan to get us out of the financial crisis. Beyond the TV shows, Geithner, who was confirmed despite having to pay $48,000 in back taxes and interest, is also the target of suppressed snickers on Capitol Hill whenever the subject turns to the IRS. And now, he is widely thought to be not up to the job.

The fundamental problem, of course, is that Geithner hasn't come up with a financial rescue plan. There is nearly unanimous agreement among economists and policymakers that the single most important thing the Secretary of the Treasury should do now is develop a plan to deal with the "toxic assets" that threaten the survival of financial institutions. But Geithner, who has been acutely aware of this problem for months, doesn't have such a plan. If he had, the comedians wouldn't be talking about 1-800-IDEAS.

The situation has gotten so bad that Geithner is the subject of private buyer's remorse from some of the very politicians who supported him. A number of senators voted to confirm Geithner, even with tax problems they deemed disqualifying, because they believed the financial crisis required immediate action. Now, with little happening, their feeling is: We put aside some very troubling concerns for this?

"I'm fairly confident that if the vote on the nomination were held today, he would not be confirmed," a top Senate aide told me recently. "The thing that saved him -- even though people with lesser problems were not saved -- was that he was the only one who could do the job, and he was seen as the wunderkind who would come in and save the day."

But as troublesome as Geithner's performance has been, focusing too much on him obscures the bigger, more important problem: Barack Obama doesn't seem to know what to do next when it comes to the economy.

Signs of confusion are all around. First, the president hasn't troubled himself to hire a team to work alongside Geithner at Treasury. There are normally eighteen high-ranking Department officials who have to be confirmed by the Senate, and Obama has nominated three -- and none of them have even had hearings yet. "Geithner isn't getting any support from the White House," another clued-in GOP aide told me. "No one man can do this job. Where is everyone who is supposed to be helping?"

Second, the administration is giving off signs of uncertainty about its own analysis of the crisis. The White House knows its forecasts of growth next year -- when the administration predicts the economy will magically snap out of deep recession and resume robust growth -- are too rosy. But they know they can't rein in those forecasts, bring them more in line with the expert consensus, without blowing the president's big-spending budget out of the water. So they stick to a less and less credible forecast.

Third, the White House even seems unsure of its much-touted $787 billion stimulus package. Do you remember how often President Obama said his plan will "create or save" four million jobs? Well, a group of economists sympathetic to Capitol Hill Democrats reportedly says the number might be significantly lower -- maybe 2.5 million jobs.

In light of that, the president's pledge to "save" jobs is looking fuzzier by the day. At a Senate hearing last week, Geithner hemmed and hawed when he was asked the simple question, "What's a saved job?"

"That's a loss avoided, or a rise in unemployment avoided, by getting growth back on track," Geithner answered. But when he was asked just how we will know when a job loss was prevented from happening, Geithner could only say that we'll know when the president tells us.

Geithner's answer seemed almost sheepish, as if he knew -- and he knew the senators knew -- that the administration is making it all up as it goes along. He might just as well have asked us to call 1-800-IDEAS.
 

Mike

Well-known member
Tam said:
The wheels on the bus go round and round go round and round :wink:

A little birdie tells me Geithner is about to get run over by one of those wheels.

Ya think that when they said Geithner was "the only man for the job" (paraphrasing) will come back to haunt them? :lol:

I watched part of his testimony yesterday. He really doesn't have a clue.
 

Tam

Well-known member
Mike said:
Tam said:
The wheels on the bus go round and round go round and round :wink:

A little birdie tells me Geithner is about to get run over by one of those wheels.

Ya think that when they said Geithner was "the only man for the job" (paraphrasing) will come back to haunt them? :lol:

I watched part of his testimony yesterday. He really doesn't have a clue.

I saw parts of it too and I actually feel sorry for him. He is in so far over his head it is not funny. Having to live up to the hipe Obama and some of his supporters put out to get him appointed in spite of his tax cheating is definitely coming back to bite him.
Rasmussen was on FOX this morning saying Obama's approval rating is falling down to earth at 57% it is below what Bush was as the same time of his first term, Obama has done nothing but trend DOWN . His disapproval rating as rose to 42%. Add to that Economists gave both Geithner and Obama a score of F for their job preformances. This is not a good sign for the confidence that the economy needs. Some are saying today that after the job performance ratings, Obama has to be thinking Geithner is a liability and he has to be thinking about whether or not to keep him around. ( I bet 6 months) :wink:
 

Cal

Well-known member
When Geithner was nominated for this position we were told that he may be the only person (period) that was qualified, even though he hadn't even done his own taxes correctly or honestly. The lies are getting old already.
 

Tam

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
The lies are getting old already.

Don't worry about that Cal, there will be some new ones tomorrow.

Obama was on the TV this morning saying the economy wasn't as bad as they thought it was, so I guess all the "crisis talk" he was throwing around a month ago to get his spending bills passed we can all forget now. Well at least until they want to pass Stimulus two. :wink:
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
Tam said:
hypocritexposer said:
The lies are getting old already.

Don't worry about that Cal, there will be some new ones tomorrow.

Obama was on the TV this morning saying the economy wasn't as bad as they thought it was, so I guess all the "crisis talk" he was throwing around a month ago to get his spending bills passed we can all forget now. Well at least until they want to pass Stimulus two. :wink:

Tam, he hasn't a clue. He smiles, and reads the words from the teleprompter. (You did notice he had two of them). He's a puppet.
 

Tam

Well-known member
TexasBred said:
Tam said:
hypocritexposer said:
Don't worry about that Cal, there will be some new ones tomorrow.

Obama was on the TV this morning saying the economy wasn't as bad as they thought it was, so I guess all the "crisis talk" he was throwing around a month ago to get his spending bills passed we can all forget now. Well at least until they want to pass Stimulus two. :wink:

Tam, he hasn't a clue. He smiles, and reads the words from the teleprompter. (You did notice he had two of them). He's a puppet.

I have to laugh when he has to speak without the teleprompter, there sure is alot of dead air time. :wink:
 
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