Fools and damned fools
Consider this WSJ lede in a piece based on administration “leaks” and transparently designed to try to calm the markets that have been laid waste by the ineptitude of the Obama administration:
The Obama administration, filling in some of the blanks in its bank bailout, is considering creating multiple investment funds to purchase the bad loans and other distressed assets that lie at the heart of the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the matter…
Leaks? Unnamed sources? Weeks after Geithner testified like an empty suit to Congress? Where’s the plan? Why is no one on the record with details? Here’s more from the WSJ piece:
The Obama team announced its intention to partner with the private sector to buy $500 billion to $1 trillion of distressed assets as part of its revamping of the $700 billion bank bailout last month…No decision has been made on the final structure of what the administration is calling a private-public financing partnership, but one leading idea is to establish separate funds to be run by private investment managers.
Either these people are fools or they are out to deliberately destroy the markets. More weeks go by and still “no decision” has been made about the administration’s plans? There’s been plenty of time for Obama to make many other economic policy decisions. This dallying is either willful or incompetent. A sensible bank plan is not difficult to fashion or implement. Something is wrong. Either incompetence or ideology is holding things up — and the markets are reacting to date pretty much as we said they would if the administration tried folly as its strategy. Alas and alack.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
I’m going with clueless, not purposeful.
A boss of mine once told me that everybody, when they start a new job, spends the first six months to a year in the new job still trying to do their old job. Since then, I’ve always noted this to be true, even in myself. Some very successful people continue to “do” their old jobs while in a new job for much longer than that–trying to continue the behaviors that made them successful.
Obama has had all his successes as a campaigner and an organizer, never as an executive. Campaigning for office and organizing people to demand services from the government. He’s continuing his old job behaviors–thus, the goofy professorial “work sessions”, the “Obama house parties”, continued pleas for donations, etc.
I have no idea at what point he will figure out what his new job is.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
Given what we’ve seen in the past six weeks, I think the evidence supports a finding that the Obama Administration is staffed both by fools and incompetents, as well as those who are wilfully trying to destroy the markets. They are Marxists, seeking to implement a complete change in the structure of the US Economy. Rather than lining the “rich” up in front of lime pits and shooting them in the back of the head before confiscating everything they have, the Administration takes the “cleaner” method of destroying capitalism with stupid policies and negativity, then blaming that destruction on the capitalists themselves. They are fools because Americans may be stupid about this kind of things, but ultimately, they do get pissed when someone steals their livelihood.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Seems like…. back during the campaign, someone pointed out to Obumble that raising Cap Gains tax rates would result in falling tax revenue. The Empty Suit’s response was (paraphrasing), “That’s OK. It’s not about revenue, it’s about fairness.” Anybody else remember that? Anyway, I agree with Sharkman. It is both incompetence and a desire to trash capitalism.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Imagine the value of Obama’s decisions if he holds off making them. In a pure chaos scenario, his fund raisers will have a field day. Everybody in government gets rich! Who cares about the neo-poor; they had their chance.
Welcome to Zimbabwe.
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Obama says that, in effect, the stock market is approaching fair value but he’s not paying much attention. Whereupon Standard and Poors downgrades BankAmerica and the S&P500 responds with a 2% drop,\ and the NASDAQ after-hours indicator with another -1.5%.
What will he say at (heaven forbid) Dow 4000? “Ho hum. Markets always overshoot on the downside.”?
While Obama is the main culprit here, I wonder if the ratings agencies are going to do as much damage during the deflation of the bubble as they did while it expanded.
Alas and alack indeed.
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Just to reinforce the previous comment:
The S&P 500 is below the 2003 bear-market low. It is below its value when Bill Clinton started his second term.
And the President of the United States says (paraphrase), “Well, it’s starting to look like a pretty good deal, but I don’t pay much attention to it.”
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I am still trying to hold onto the old maxim that says, “Don’t attribute to malice, that which is more easily and more likely explained by incompetence”.
Saint Obama has only run his mouth (via teleprompter) and his political campaigns.
So, I agree with Neil at 10:02 am – The Saintly Obama is still campaigning – listen to the twaddle he spews to the ever adoring MSM. But, even some of those guys are becoming skeptical and questioning the Sainted Obama’s utterances and lack of real program .