Legal Commentary

How Much Longer Can Obama And Geithner Avoid Dealing With The Financial Crisis?

By Big Tent Democrat

I think not much longer. From the NYTimes:

Analysts say it is far too early to know if Mr. Geithner and his team will be effective. But some worry that political and financial constraints have made them reluctant to grapple with the full magnitude of the crisis.

Many financial experts estimate that the nation’s banks are holding as much as $2 trillion in troubled assets . . . To avoid asking Congress for more money, Mr. Geithner has been trying to stretch government money by working with private investors, the Federal Reserve and government-controlled companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants. But that has introduced other tough policy issues, many of which remain unresolved. “Their huge problem is that the American public is not willing to accept large losses for large financial institutions,” said Vincent Reinhart, . . . “Everything they are doing is about having the smallest possible footprint on the federal budget. They don’t want to engage the Congress and they don’t want to engage the American people in that discussion.”

(Emphasis supplied.) The ostrich approach does not have much life left I think. Speaking for me only.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 09, 2009 (boomark / email).