Take the Steering Wheel out of Geithner's Hands by Arianna Huffington

[Better Believe It]

Take the Steering Wheel out of Geithner's Hands
By Arianna Huffington
March 23, 2009

It was painful to watch Obama, just hours after Geithner had admitted his role in the Dodd/bonus loophole affair, go on Jay Leno and say that Geithner is doing an "outstanding job." Even before Frank Rich's Sunday column was titled "Has a 'Katrina Moment' Arrived?," Obama's assessment had more than a whiff of Bush telling Brownie he was "doing a heck of a job."

While President of the New York Fed, he eliminated two key regulatory measures -- a quarterly risk report and a ban on major acquisitions -- that may have prevented (or at least lessened the impact of) the unraveling of Citigroup, which his office was responsible for supervising. Then, together with Hank Paulson, he was instrumental in the original bailout of AIG and the creation of the TARP plan. And he was a key player in the decision to let Lehman Brothers fail.

And now he surrounds himself with others who share his Wall Street Weltenschauung, including his chief of staff Mark Patterson, a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs who had lobbied against then-Senator Obama's 2007 bill to reform CEO pay.

Geithner's Masters of the Universe, the people he still thinks are the ones we should turn to to save the day, are the same people who brought us here. And that is why Geithner either needs to go or keep his job but have his authority stripped and transferred to someone who does not share his Wall Street DNA. Call him or her the "Recovery Czar."

In other words, use any window dressing you want, just take the steering wheel out of Geithner's hands.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/geithner-unable-to-escape_b_178006.html

[PM Martin]

1. Already done.

I agree with her too!

[FrenchieCat]

2. I like Ms. Huffington pretty much.

That being said, this is not Arianna Huffington's call.
Her call was to divorce her husband, become more progressive
and start an online news site.

That's about all that one can say about that.

[BlueJac]

3. Geithner, "doing a heck of a job!"

for his fucking wall street buddies!

[FrenchieCat]

5. Sounds menacing and mean......

but devoid of substance.

[high density]

4. So Obama working with Geithner to fix the broken economy = Bush + Brownie moment?

Sorry but this bullshit of late sounds like Newt Gingrich in front of CPAC. Everybody seems to think they have their own crystal ball that Obama has completely failed and cratered only 60 days into his Presidency. It's fucking insanity.

[FrenchieCat]

6. That's because everybody thinks they are smarter than Barack Obama.

That was also the thinking back when the primaries started.
Everyone "knew" who was inevitable.

Those who underestimate Mr. Obama obviously have a superiority complex
that they are gonna need to kick that habit....or be forced to.

[Better Believe It]

8. No. The people want Obama to control Wall Street and end Wall Streets control over the government!

[high density]

11. Who is to say he won't regulate the financial industry?

One step at a freaking time, PLEASE!

[high density]

10. Where is the patience?

I think any liberal, myself included, is right to be nervous about the resumes of Geithner, et al. But now the Treasury Department has put out a plan. It's a real plan, not one where Wall St. can say "Oh, there are no details, BOOOOOOOOO!!!" Yes, it's going to cost money and there is moral hazard, but we knew that. Nationalization would bring the same problems.

Now we have to wait and see if the plan will work. All of these liberal columnists of late have unilaterally declared failure on the plan before the first dollar is spent on it. I know we're used to having no faith in our government, but I am perfectly willing to give our new leadership some time for their plan to start showing results.

[Jennicut]

12. The hyerbole used by some on the left reminds me of the right

We might not all agree with Geithner's plan but the nutso wording of some columnists lately leaves me scratching my head. Katrina moments and Rumsfeld moments and Brownie moments. Just kind of weird. Can we disagree with Geithner and his plan without comparing him to Bush?

[monmouth]

7. Arianna is a wealthy woman, she may have her own agenda...n/t

[rvablue]

9. Her agenda is to drive traffic to her site so as to further fill her pockets and sate her ego

and the OP helped her do just that by posting the link and the excerpt here.

Why does anyone care what this woman thinks? She has ZERO experience in policy making, holding office, etc.

The only reason she has a voice is because she is incredibly wealthy, bought access and pushed herself.