Category Archives: Politics

Civil Society: Falling Apart

Yesterday, the idiot was Marc Dreier; today, it’s Rod Blagojevich. Both of them powerful men near the very top of their professions; both of them sworn to uphold the law; both of them resorting to the kind of desperate criminality … Continue reading

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Great Moments in Politics, California Edition

A fiscal emergency has been declared, but hey, Mr Villines, don’t let that stop you from sounding like a drunken ideologue: Republican lawmakers, who last week blocked a Democratic proposal to cut billions of dollars from schools, healthcare and welfare … Continue reading

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Geithner isn’t Rubin

Edward Helmore, of the (London) Observer, provides this weekend the neatest distillation of the "Geithner is Rubin" meme that I’ve yet seen: For Obama, the selection of Rubin acolytes suggests vulnerability. Yet defenders of the Rubinistas say it is not … Continue reading

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Is Volcker the Man for This Job?

In theory, I like the idea of an Economic Recovery Advisory Board which will provide to the President "a ground-level sense of which programs and policies are working for people, and which aren’t". But I’m not at all convinced that … Continue reading

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The Difference Between Rubin and Paulson

The Economist compares two Goldman Sachs chairmen turned Treasury secretary: Mr Rubin rose to the top through risk arbitrage. As a trader, he knew that the important thing was to understand the big picture, and get big calls right. He … Continue reading

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Wall Street CEOs vs Geithner

The single most important job on Tim Geithner’s impressive resume, in terms of qualifying him to be Treasury, secretary, is the job he holds now: president of the New York Fed. As such, he’s the Fed’s chief liaison to Wall … Continue reading

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Obama’s Real Economic Team

On Saturday, the WSJ knew exactly who would be joining Tim Geithner in Barack Obama’s economic team: Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orszag will be Mr. Obama’s budget director. Jacob Lew, a former Clinton budget director, will head the White … Continue reading

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Obama’s Economic Team

Brad DeLong says there are six key economic policy jobs in the US government; we can now fill in most of the blanks. Running down Brad’s list: Office of Management and Budget director: Will be Peter Orszag, an excellent and … Continue reading

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Geithner!

I’m pleased and surprised at the news that Tim Geithner will be the next Treasury secretary. Pleased because he’s an insightful pragmatist who’s more than qualified to do the job; surprised because I had thought that he might prefer to … Continue reading

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The Dangers of Looking to Washington for Help

Not since the House Republicans scuppered the first version of the TARP bill has the stock market paid so much attention to the legislative branch of government. I have no idea what’s going on on Capitol Hill: the WSJ is … Continue reading

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Yet More Paulson Revisionism

The second part of David Cho’s interview with Hank Paulson features even more revisionism. Get a load of this: Paulson used his influence within the administration to win even broader powers from Congress, allowing him to nationalize major financial institutions, … Continue reading

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Hank Paulson, Serial Revisionist

First, Hank Paulson said that he wasn’t willing to use government money to rescue Lehman. Then he said that he would have loved to save Lehman, but he didn’t have the powers. Now he’s on his third version: he did … Continue reading

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Bush’s Peculiar Wall Street Speech

Bush’s speech on Wall Street today is a most peculiar thing — a mixture of free-market platitudes, cryptic code, and outright weirdness. For instance, what does this mean? One vital principle of reform is that our nations must make our … Continue reading

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How Banks Need to Mollify the Public Sector

I just got off the phone with ProPublica’s Dick Tofel; we talked quite a bit about the Goldman Sachs story they put out yesterday, but unfortunately they don’t seem inclined to say anything on the record. One thing which is … Continue reading

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Treasury Enters its Lame Duck Phase

A welcome sign of independent intelligent life at the NYT business section comes this morning, with Edmund Andrews’ piece on Frannie’s latest loan-mod plan. Both the WSJ and the FT played the story just as Treasury and FHFA wanted them … Continue reading

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Against Summers

Brad DeLong is pushing Larry Summers as Treasury Secretary. His argument, in a nutshell, is that "we want really smart people" running things, that Larry Summers is a really smart person, and that if you have the intelligence, self-confidence, and … Continue reading

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Treasury Secretary Speculation Heats Up

There’s not much liquidity on the Treasury secretary contracts over at InTrade, but for what it’s worth Summers last traded at 22, Geithner at 20, Paulson at 15 (!), and Volcker at 10. The only long-shots to trade were Buffett … Continue reading

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Treasury Secretary Brackets

Who will be Obama’s first Treasury Secretary? Portfolio has a fabulous interactive feature to help you work it out; the first time I tried it I got Jamie Dimon, while the second time I got Paul Volcker. (It shakes up … Continue reading

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NYC’s Fiscal Crisis

How did Mike Bloomberg end up changing the rules so that he could run for a third term as mayor? Let’s ask NYC speaker Christine Quinn: “It’s a piece of legislation and a vote and a choice that is a … Continue reading

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Hank Paulson, Revisionist

Did you know that Hank Paulson is one of the most powerless finance ministers in the world? While his counterparties in other countries feel responsible for saving systemically-important banks, Paulson’s hands, until recently, were tied, and he could do nothing … Continue reading

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The Exercise of Raw Power

Arnold Kling on Hank Paulson: This American Mussolini has captivated Washington by demonstrating the exercise of raw power. Which if you ask me is ridiculous. Paulson’s ears are much higher up on his head than Mussolini’s.

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CNBC’s Gasparino Problem

Charlie Gasparino has outdone himself today. He reasonably blames much of the current financial crisis on "a lack of leadership from Washington" — but somehow manages to convince himself that it’s Obama’s leadership which is lacking, rather than Paulson’s or … Continue reading

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Hank Paulson, Drowning Scorpion

Why has Gordon Brown found it so much easier to bite the nationalization bullet than Hank Paulson? Simple: it’s a question of old-fashioned ideology. Here’s John Quiggin: It’s fascinating to wonder how Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling must feel about … Continue reading

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Great Moments in Punditry, Kudlow Edition

Larry Kudlow, July 2007: If you ask folks on Wall Street what their biggest worry is, most will say it’s another 9-11. They rank another attack far ahead of passing sub-prime mortgage problems or wiggles in consumer spending… I have … Continue reading

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Don’t Get Sanguine About This Bill

After the lessons we learned on Monday, it’s a good idea to pay attention to people who say that the bailout bill is going to have difficulty getting passed in the House. And Andrew Leonard, today, says just that: The … Continue reading

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