Yer Doin' a Heck of a Job, Paulie
Last July, as Congress was about to vote on a request by the Bush Administration that would grant authority to shore up mortgage kingpins Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview on Meet the Press that it might take several months for the US economy to recover, but that the nation's banking system remained sound.
That diagnosis, reminiscent of recent statements from John McCain and President Bush, was delivered two months ago. With the collapse yesterday of Washington Mutual, the largest bank failure in American history, Mr. Paulson's skills as a financial MD could certainly have been called into question. Yet, before last week, when the US Congress challenged a Bush plan to bailout the financial institutions that undergird the American economy, the administration was suggesting that the treasury boss be given almost sole control over a $700 billion I-V designed to keep the economy from completely flat-lining.
The question, of course, is whether Mr. Paulson was lying to the nation in July to help ensure confidence in the financial markets or whether he simply couldn't see the wolf on his doorstep. Now, if we are to believe what the government is saying, we are on the threshold of a national emergency as a result of unregulated lending institutions making bad loans. Washington's response is to ask American citizens to ante up a huge loan of its own so it can bail out worthless lenders by buying essentially worthless securities.
The Bush administration's inept management of the hurricane Katrina disaster was brought to mind as the nation faced a large and unsettling question: would you trust Henry Paulson with $700 billion of your money? The Congress answered no, sending Washington into a week of anxious, and as yet fruitless, negotiations. Perhaps once a rescue bill is passed, the nation's leaders would consent to an earmark of a few billion to fund cancer research? Don't hold your breath.
Last July, as Congress was about to vote on a request by the Bush Administration that would grant authority to shore up mortgage kingpins Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview on Meet the Press that it might take several months for the US economy to recover, but that the nation's banking system remained sound.
That diagnosis, reminiscent of recent statements from John McCain and President Bush, was delivered two months ago. With the collapse yesterday of Washington Mutual, the largest bank failure in American history, Mr. Paulson's skills as a financial MD could certainly have been called into question. Yet, before last week, when the US Congress challenged a Bush plan to bailout the financial institutions that undergird the American economy, the administration was suggesting that the treasury boss be given almost sole control over a $700 billion I-V designed to keep the economy from completely flat-lining.
The question, of course, is whether Mr. Paulson was lying to the nation in July to help ensure confidence in the financial markets or whether he simply couldn't see the wolf on his doorstep. Now, if we are to believe what the government is saying, we are on the threshold of a national emergency as a result of unregulated lending institutions making bad loans. Washington's response is to ask American citizens to ante up a huge loan of its own so it can bail out worthless lenders by buying essentially worthless securities.
The Bush administration's inept management of the hurricane Katrina disaster was brought to mind as the nation faced a large and unsettling question: would you trust Henry Paulson with $700 billion of your money? The Congress answered no, sending Washington into a week of anxious, and as yet fruitless, negotiations. Perhaps once a rescue bill is passed, the nation's leaders would consent to an earmark of a few billion to fund cancer research? Don't hold your breath.
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