House Minority Leader John Boehner got a little spicy today as he called for Obama to accept the resignations of all of his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and economic advisor Larry Summers. Boehner, clearly seeing he stands a very good chance of getting the Speaker’s gavel come November, said the midterms would […]
Shortly after the election, I heard several pronouncements extolling Obama’s transition as the smoothest in American history among other accolades, all of which were hyperbolic works of extreme aggrandizement. Never mind the several appointees that had tax problems and other issues, but that’s neither here nor there. What’s interesting is that seven months in, the […]
As the Senate wraps up its business and the House heads home for vacation, the debate over health care reform continues. Central to the Democrats’ selling of their health care proposal is the notion that their “public option” won’t lead to government takeover of health care and won’t lead to the destruction of private insurance. The […]
A piece in the L.A. Times today (heads up from Patterico) examined the greatly expanded control of the auto industry by Obama’s task force. As the article notes, the auto task force moves from a role of making sure tax dollars are spent responsibly to actually setting industrial policy. For example, the task force decided that […]
Yesterday, President Obama offered a stern warning to GM and Chrysler to shape up in 60 days or face bankruptcy. To show he meant business, the administration asked for the resignation of GM CEO Rick Wagoner and strongly suggested that Chrysler work out a merger with foreign car manufacturer Fiat. Meanwhile, the President promised to […]
One day after Timothy Geithner and Austin Goolsbee drew fire for hinting at being open to a Chinese monetary proposal, a United Nations panel pushed for a new Global Reserve System to replace the dollar. This moves the debate somewhat out of the realm of the conspiracy and into the realm of the possible. The […]
Secretary Timothy Geithner, speaking at a forum at the Council on Foreign Relations, today said he was “open” to a proposal by the governor of China’s central bank reforming world monetary policy. The Chinese proposal was seen by many as a call to adopt a world currency, but Geithner noted the only concrete proposal was a […]
The Washington Post reports today that the Obama administration wants expanded power to seize other businesses besides banks. Large insurance companies, hedge funds, and investment firms – these are the main types of business in the crosshairs right now as the push is to get rid of private regulatory agencies and seemingly nationalize the banking industry […]
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner fleshed out more details of his proposal to absorb toxic assets on the balance sheets of major banks. Dubbed the Public-Private Investment Program, the plan calls for the government (i.e. the taxpayer) to buy bad real-estate loans and securities from banks and calls […]
President Obama today met with senior lawmakers today in a so-called “fiscal responsibility summit” – by rights, the title ought to be more of a punchline. After the passage of a bloated $787 billion stimulus package, President Obama now pledges to cut the federal spending deficit in the future. In one of the biggest cackle-worthy […]
In a move that was unpopular but still bizarrely inevitable, the Senate today passed the economic recovery plan with a final vote of 61-37. All but three Republicans voted against the bill, Senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins. They broke ranks with their party in the supposed name of bipartisanship, but their support for […]
Ready for more hope and change? Tom Daschle, Obama’s choice for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has apparently forgotten to pay $128,000 in taxes. Just another honest mistake, right? After all, this is the smoothest transition in the history of the nation, right? Right! I don’t know how anyone can claim with a straight face that […]
Timothy Geithner made it through his Senate Financial Committee vote by a margin of 16-5. You surprisingly had Senators Orrin Hatch and John Cornyn praising his credentials and dismissing his failure to pay tens of thousands in taxes as a “mistake.” Yeah, OK, great credentials. Accomplished very little as NY Fed chief and helped engineer […]
Can we finally put to rest this notion of the smoothest transition in history is taking place before our privileged eyes? Bill Richardson had to drop out due to a criminal investigation, Leon Panetta has no intelligence experience for the top international intelligence position, and along with so many other missteps of the Obama Cabinet […]
Wellsy's World 
August 24, 2010
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