This, from Barry Ritholtz about Timothy Geithner’s performance so far is pretty on the money:
I’ve noticed something I find a bit disturbing about our new Treasury Secretary: He has not yet fully come to terms with his new job, role — and boss. Granted, he’s been in the job for only two days. But given the extraordinary circumstances the financial sector and the economy is in, it is important for the Treasury Secretary to get up to speed as soon as possible.
Consider this statement from Geithner, who said that Treasury is considering a “range of options” for its financial rescue plan, with the goal of preserving the private banking system. “We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we’d like to do our best to preserve that system.”
No! Defending these idiots was your old gig. In the new job, you no longer work for the cretins responsible for bringing down the global economy. Please stop rationalizing their behavior, and preserving the status quo!
Quite so. Here’s my initial impression of the unequal distribution of “change” across the government. Basically everywhere but Treasury and Defense, we’re seeing lots of change. Genuine progressives doing genuinely progressive things. At Treasury and Defense, well, jury’s out.
