Bank Czar James Baker?

The major issue is that the people in charge of the bailout canmnot have close ties to the banking executives. A major element of the financial industry at the top has been personal relationships (networking, rain making) The result has been a series of regulatory failures because the top level regulators have been blinded by personality as in the Madoff case. The Bush regulators were from the industry, which sounds like a logical source of expertise, but if the regulators are part of the club, and are used to things like incomes in the tens and hundreds of millions, you will not get effective action. At least Geithner comes out of the regulatory cide. Baker does have good reputation, but I would want to see how he is related to the major players; is he too close to them to crack heads? If he is a member of the same clubs, for example, I would not give him the job. Finally, it took us years of maladministration to get in this mess. To expect Geithner to fix things in a month is unrealistic. I think the real issue is for Obama to make the Republicans in Congress to get serious about bipartisanship or, failing that, ignore them. By the way, I owuld, if I were Harry Reid, restore the original form of the fiolibuster. It is now pro forma, but if the Republicans have to talk for hours on end, they will inevitably reveal their mental, moral, and ethical bankruptcy, a rich trove C-SOAN clips for the next election.

“At least Geithner comes out of the regulatory side.”
A heck of a lot of good that did. He was part of the problem in he did not the regulations he was in charge of protecting. Again, he is just another example of the fox guarding the hen house.

David M. Smick’s article in the Washington Post is fair and I feel hits many points that make sense. I am not sure how we can understand the problem when there is so much we still do not know. Will the stress test include real open book numbers from the banks? If someone could come up with a formula to calculate as close as possible real time bad debt then we would have real information on which to base solutions. Some of these bank officials may need to be arrested. I think the proposal of a Czar is not as good the suggestion of an experienced team educated in all aspects finance, accounting, markets, and banking. This team could have a leader that we call Czar.
I would not want to be Tim G right now. He has the world on his shoulders literally and figuratively. I think that he needs help especially with communication. I think we should give him a chance (not too much longer) and give the stimulus package a chance to work.
I think we need people who can see and understand that everything is connected. Banking, health care, education, green technologies are all connected to the economy. You cannot fix one and not the other if you want the fixes to hold.
The people in Washington who are making decisions on solutions have no idea about banking, finance, or the economy. Many of them have no idea about the reality of this situation and its impact on our society. Most of our representatives have never been required to do “actual work” to do more with less like the rest of us.
Obama is raising the bar (for congress) to a standard that most people out in the real world already know. I hear ALOT of whining, complaining, and criticizing the president and each other instead of figuring out how to get things done. There so much time wasted whining no wonder there is not time to read the information they need to make informed decisions.
Doing more with less is something the rest of us have been doing for a long time. These comments apply to both political parties but especially to our republican representatives. We need some conflict resolution, project, and time management skills training for the congress and senate members.
These people have been inefficient for so long that they need help to meet this new higher standard of doing business. Maybe a kindergarten teacher could help manage these children figure out how to get things done. :-)
Thank you for listening
Dea Easton

Naming James Baker as a bank rescue czar is a brilliant idea! After all, he helped bring us the President who brought about the mess that needs to be cleaned up.

Now they are using alot of Newts ideas from the Reagan days now Jim Baker?
Why did we vote for Obama again??
Change?

Jim Baker? Are you kidding me? This is not a job for the country club set. How about Patrick J. Fitzgerald? He’s rough and tumble, will ask the right questions and will not take BS from the bankers.