Geithner’s TARP Announcement Is A Flop
The only man in America who can fix our flagging economy and fix our banking system failed miserably yesterday. His performance was so bad that Rasmussen polling indicates a drop in consumer confidence:
Following Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s presentation of the White House financial rescue plan, the Rasmussen Consumer Index fell a point-and-a-half to 56.6. That’s another all-time record low, surpassing the mark set ten days ago. During 2008, record lows for consumer confidence were recorded on a regular basis. The Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, is down three points from a week ago and two points from a month ago.
The New York Times reports that the plan “is far bigger than anyone predicted and envisions a far greater government role in markets and banks than at any time since the 1930s.”
Larry Kudlow thinks it isn’t all about Geithner, though he doesn’t excuse him either:
On Tuesday morning, stocks opened down about 75 points in the wake of Obama’s pessimism. But stocks really started to tumble when Tim Geithner stepped to the microphone. He totally bombed in his debut.
Geithner had no real plan to deal with the problem of unmarketable toxic assets on bank balance sheets. He offered no new architectural structure, no good way to remove the toxic assets, no clear pricing or funding proposals, and no meat on the bones.
According to Merriam-Webster, a “plan” is “a detailed formulation of a program of action; a method for achieving an end.” But Mr. Geithner had none of this. As a result, stocks plunged about 250 points. Prominent investment strategist Ed Yardeni described Geithner as an empty suit with an empty plan.
I wasn’t one of the people who thought President Obama’s performance went particularly well. I thought it was long-winded and way too heavy on the fearmongering. In short, President Obama’s pitch perfect tone of the campaign didn’t accompany him to the East Room that night.
People from Wall Street to Main Street were waiting to hear the voice of competence and confidence, that things would be alright. Instead they got ultimatums and pessimism.
Had Tim Geithner presented a specific credible plan, he could’ve offset his boss’s lackluster performance. Instead of putting the fire out, Mr. Geithner brought a tank of white gas to his presentation. With his words, he sprinkled that white gas around liberally. Finishing his much-anticipated speach without laying out a specific plan was the economic equivalent of lighting a match and throwing it onto the gas-soaked floor.
If Geithner and the rest of the Obama administration’s team don’t come up with something that people have confidence in, Democrats will be staring into the eyes of an electoral bloodbath in 2010.
Coupling Rasmussen’s polling with the flood of anecdotal evidence and the rest of bad economic news, it isn’t a stretch to say that the American people don’t trust the Obama administration’s economic team.
When President Obama was elected, the American people thought they were getting a competent president. Thus far, they aren’t getting what they voted for. People like Larry Kudlow and Ed Yardeni are noticing. They aren’t getting into the mood of putting their money at risk.
That’s the worst possible reaction to the Obama-Geithner press blitz that Mssrs. Axelrod and Emanuel could’ve expected.
Technorati Tags: Banking, TARP II, Tim Geithner, President Obama, Economy, Polling, Wall Street, Main Street, Larry Kudlow, Ed Yardeni, Consumer Confidence
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
February 13th, 2009 at 8:29 am
What’s the matter, Gary? You can’t understand why Wall Street wouldn’t trust the word of a thieving tax cheat? How old fashioned of them!
‘Course, my personal opinion is that Geithner is no less trustworthy than the Thief-in-Chief and his congressional cohorts.