The Coming Economic StormBy Nicholas von Hoffman
March 10, 2009
When Americans aren't shaking in fury, they are quaking in fear. The anger is at the bankers; the fear is of losing their ability to earn a living.
Say the word "bank" or "AIG" and some people get apoplectic. Our tolerance has expired for giving either entity sums with more zeros than fit on a calculator's display screen. Nor has it contributed to public eupepsia that each gift has been accompanied with a statement that another will soon have to be forthcoming.
New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, known as Wall Street's Washington representative--or pimp, depending on your politics--has been hitting the airwaves placating the public with promises that banks will get more taxpayer money, but bankers will get none. He says that there will be no more bonuses, no more Las Vegas weekends and that, truly, really, absolutely, the banks will soon make loans to small businesses and consumers.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who may be President Obama's biggest mistake, has not been able to inspire confidence or convince a frantically anxious public that he knows what he is doing. The man, whose TV personality is that of a slightly sneaky, know-it-all-ish technocrat, is overwhelmed and understaffed in what at the moment is the second-most-important job in the American government.
Geithner's performance thus far makes Henry Paulsen, his immediate predecessor in the Bush administration, look like a man with a coherent, doable plan to save the banks and the nation's financial system. Whether or not it is doable, the public has not bought it, but Geithner and Obama have made the Paulsen plan their own. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090323/howl?rel=hp_currently
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