Lukewarm Reception

It amounted to a do-over for tax-cheat and guy-who-runs-the-I.R.S. Timothy Geithner.

For Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner as much as for the troubled government program to bail out the financial system, Tuesday amounted to a do-over.

Initial reviews for the man and his plan were not good, however. Stock markets slid through the day, perhaps spurred downward by withering punditry on the business-news cable channels faulting Mr. Geithner for not providing more details, particularly on stemming home foreclosures. Senators of both parties lodged similar complaints at a hearing.

“I haven’t heard yet how we’re going to solve this problem,” Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, told the Treasury secretary more than three hours into the Senate Banking Committee hearing.

With a formal speech, live television interviews and then his Senate appearance, Mr. Geithner announced the Obama administration’s overhaul of the Bush administration’s bank bailout program, which had proved largely ineffective at getting credit flowing again.

I have a really thin paperback on my bookshelf. It’s called “Government plans to meddle in the economy, that worked.” It’s up there, sandwiched among “Republicans who survived scandals,” “democrats who didn’t” and “Movies made from video games that don’t suck.”

Seriously. As I just said last night, I’m flabbergasted at how quickly this whole party is over. “Party,” not as in political party, but that huge cocktails-and-LSD bash that was The Annointed One’s inaugural festivities. Where’s all that hopey-changey goodness? I wish I was happy about all this failure as the Obamatons keep saying I/we are. I’m not. I’m about as happy as I am when I’m watching one of those scary movies, and the girl’s walking backwards after the lights have gone out, muttering “Bobby is that you? It’s not funny anymore”…and doing drugs…and fornicatin’…pretty much breaking all the rules. And you have the scary music going on, and she hears a noise but it turns out to be the cat…and then she runs into the REAL KILLER and gets her head lopped off. Yeah, just like that. “*Sigh* Couldn’t have seen that one coming.” How quickly we reach the turning point, is surprising. That we did — not so much.

Cross-posted at House of Eratosthenes.

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!