Obama writes an op-ed read ’round the world.
Yeah, yeah, Geitner & company want more control to seize renegade financial institutions.
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.
The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.
Never mind this control would become a political football from administration to administration, at least as I see it.
Hey AIG, you’ve got the IRS’ attention.
And, yes, China wants a new money reserve to replace the dollar. Might make the G20 meeting next week a bit more interesting.
With Tim Geithner now being called “Tiger Tim” by Tina Brown.
While Eugene Robinson sees Geithner as simply a “repairman.”
But the real news today was Rep. Barney Frank dressing down Code Pink during the hearings. As someone not a fan of this group, having seen them in action during Hillary Clinton’s women’s event last year, I have only one thing to say. Bravo, sir. Bravo.
Taylor I’m sure it’s my dysfunctional brain but taking all this financial mess in is becoming so complicated for me. I wonder about the government taking over non-bank institutions. I can really see it becoming a hot political football in any future administrations, especially Republican. However, how else do we monitor these companies? We always seem to guard the hen house after the fox got the booty. Maybe i should stop talking about this because it is just becoming a big headache for me. I want something to work and I’m hoping that it does.
“But the real news today was Rep. Barney Frank dressing down Code Pink during the hearings.”
Oh, nonono Taylor, the real news today was Michelle Bachman bringing the crazy and Geithner’s wtf? face and THEN Frank smacking her down at the end.
Mmmmmm, delish.
vintagejulie, Forget Geithner’s WTF face …
Did you see Bernanke’s …? The man ALMOST sneered his answer …
BTW Taylor ..
With regards to “Rep. Barney Frank dressing down Code Pink during the hearings.”, THAT is NOT something exclusive …
IF you followed the last hearings with the AIG CEO on capitol hill, the Republican co-chair offered a similar tongue lashing to the code pinkers for their sign waving antics …
I personally think that regulation is the next phase of our recovery. That is what this is about.
We MUST assert our interests here.
Geithner is right.
AnninCA says:
24 March 2009 at 4:04 pm
I personally think that regulation is the next phase of our recovery. That is what this is about.
We MUST assert our interests here.
Geithner is right.
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God help me… I agree with Ann.
but not JUST regulation for regulations sake. Effective regulation targeted to close the gaps that allowed the current debacle to fester and erupt.
AnninCA says:
24 March 2009 at 4:04 pm
GeoT says:
24 March 2009 at 4:35 pm
I’m just here to read the posts but I gotta tell u I’m loving this kumbaya moment.
Take heart, JA, most people feel as you do.
Yeah, but a Rep. going after Code Pink is not exactly head turning. As for Bachman, she’s *such* an easy target, isn’t she?
Regulation was always in the mix, as I’ve talked about *many* times, citing Mr. Ronald Reagan as when our troubles on that one began.
It is a trifle of a point, but not all — or even most — of our recent regulatory troubles can be laid at the foot of Ronald Reagan. Candor requires that we admit that Democrats also were complicit.
I went back to Obama’s financial markets speech from a year ago (at Cooper Union). It reassured me that he has diagnosed the problem correctly. His summary of needed financial regulation is pretty prescient. If he gets all the reforms he wants, we’ll be in good shape.
Speech: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBNsq
Proposed Reforms: http://obama.3cdn.net/f9836ef496f75a9be0_39gimvt5b.pdf
nancy50 says:
24 March 2009 at 4:39 pm
AnninCA says:
24 March 2009 at 4:04 pm
GeoT says:
24 March 2009 at 4:35 pm
I’m just here to read the posts but I gotta tell u I’m loving this kumbaya moment.
OK, Me too!
I agree with AnninCA and GeoT.
Taylor Marsh says:
24 March 2009 at 4:42 pm
Regulation was always in the mix, as I’ve talked about *many* times, citing Mr. Ronald Reagan as when our troubles on that one began.
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Taylor: that’s why that “letter to the editor” that Frank Rich sited the other day (in his “Katrina” piece) seemed phony to me. Because the person praised Reagan for the way he handled the Air Traffic Controller situation in the 80′s and it signed off something to the effect “this Obama voter has had enough” the two notions didn’t add up to me…
nancy50 says:
24 March 2009 at 4:39 pm
djjl says:
24 March 2009 at 5:04 pm
nancy50 says:
24 March 2009 at 4:39 pm
AnninCA says:
24 March 2009 at 4:04 pm
GeoT says:
24 March 2009 at 4:35 pm
I’m just here to read the posts but I gotta tell u I’m loving this kumbaya moment.
OK, Me too!
I agree with AnninCA and GeoT.
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is there a blue moon today or something?
Jane Austen says:
24 March 2009 at 2:39 pm
Taylor I’m sure it’s my dysfunctional brain but taking all this financial mess in is becoming so complicated for me
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I agree with Taylor JA. Its not your brain (or mine) Some of these investment “vehicles” as they call them are purposely complicated so only “specialists” can deal with them, the average investor has no chance to navigate through that forest. Re-regulation can help demystify the system for the 99% of us who are not “specialists”
Well once again, Pat Buchanan on MSNBC, actually let slip how he really feels. This time its about Latinos. I was watching earlier while he said this, and turned to my dog, and said, “What did he just say?”
http://tinyurl.com/c5ry8y
Audiegrl says:
24 March 2009 at 5:33 pm
Well once again, Pat Buchanan on MSNBC, actually let slip how he really feels. This time its about Latinos. I was watching earlier while he said this, and turned to my dog, and said, “What did he just say?”
___
what did your dog say?
BTW:
Kudos to Rep. Debbie Scultz, she’s on Hardball diclosing and discussing her fight with breast cancer.
GeoT says:
24 March 2009 at 5:38 pm
Audiegrl says:
24 March 2009 at 5:33 pm
_____
Buchanan’s a dinosaur with stripes, he should be extinct, and he’ll never change. I would hasten to mention to him that those he is afraid of predate his Irish/European’s ancestors on this continent, including my wife and her family.
GeoT says:
24 March 2009 at 5:38 pm
___
what did your dog say?
She didn’t do anything, but I felt like growling at him. He always has that affect on me.
Wow I just got home. And, when I heard Michelle Bachman, I couldn’t help but laugh. Poor Geithner looked at her like she was nuts, which she is.
And GeoT I have alway loved Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she is such a trooper. And she always has been.
Ooooh, Audie got a new avatar.
“McCain likey”
AG – I love your avatar. Is that you?
Jane Austen says:
24 March 2009 at 6:30 pm
Yep, that’s me
AG – Beautiful soulful eyes.
If anyone is interested Taylor has a “new thread up” on Pakistan.
Awwww, thank you Jane.
GeoT says:
24 March 2009 at 5:14 pm
Reagan sacked them. He went from a union pres. to off the rails. Many people cut him slack, including Dems, because they don’t remember his policies. The man, the persona, now that’s a different story.
As I’ve stated before, I voted for Reagan because I just couldn’t get my head around Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy at the time. His sweater fiasco I still remember; meanwhile I was in gas lines in NY City.
You learn by your mistakes, so I’m a bit harsher on this one than many.
Taylor Marsh says:
24 March 2009 at 7:06 pm
Reagan sacked them. He went from a union pres. to off the rails. Many people cut him slack, including Dems, because they don’t remember his policies. The man, the persona, now that’s a different story.
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You were a “Reagen Democrat” I’ve heard of your tribe