Paul Krugman checks in with a well-constructed, common sense explanation for why the recently-leaked Geithner plan is a crappy one. Basically, the plan only works if there isn’t any underlying problem beyond a market panic, which I think any reasonable person paying a modest amount of attention has to realize is simply not the case.
I’ve always admired Barack Obama for his ability to surround himself with good people who are competent at what they do. His financial team makes plain the down-side of this: without good people, he’s stuck in the mud on the most pressing issue of our day.
Finally for this post, let me also counterbalance these negative thoughts with ones perhaps more calm: the man’s been at work for not quite 60 days. There’s time for him to get things right and maybe if enough smart people tell him what a mistake this plan is – Krugman, Baker, I’m looking in your direction – he can reverse course. The media’s insistence on drumming up fears for the sake of ratings notwithstanding, we’ve managed to bumble along for five months without a permanent solution. I’m sure a little bit more time is not going to break us.
