President Signs Off on Key Part of Bank Plan
EmailTreasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies today at the Senate Budget Committee before heading to London for this weekend’s G20 meeting in London with finance ministers from the world’s biggest economies.
Geithner warned lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week of a deepening global recession if countries do not pull together and take action.
The bottom line: the secretary and his team think the economy is a mess right now. They see a deepening global recession with unemployment likely to rise for several more months.
But there are small signs of good news.
Mortgage rates are reaching record lows and retail sales have ticked up a bit. I was told that when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke met with the president this week, he said there has been some improvement in consumer spending, and inventories are coming down.
But everyone in the government concludes that the recession is likely to last at least until the end of this year.
There is a lot of pressure on the administration now to finalize their plan for the nation’s struggling banks. We can expect to see something in the next week or two.
President Barack Obama met with his economic team late into the night past 10p.m. on Tuesday and he signed off on a final part of the bank plan whereby the government will partner with, and finance, hedge funds and other investors to buy up toxic assets from the banks.
The government thinks this is the best alternative to temporary bank nationalization.
They hope to unveil it in the next couple weeks. But there is no doubt that Congress will have to put in new money to these old banks.
And many economists believe a second stimulus plan is absolutely necessary as well, with the unemployment rate surging to 8.1 percent in February and a loss of about 4.4-million jobs since December 2007.
A lot of economists argue the first $787-billion stimulus was just too small. We heard House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Tuesday say she is open to the idea of a second stimulus.
On Capitol Hill, key committee chairs are drafting some plans for a potential second stimulus package.
But everyone across the administration that I have spoken with — from the White House, Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget — are saying that it’s much too early for that. They want to give the first stimulus a chance to work.
The administration also knows that politically now, they could not get Congress to pass several hundred billions more for a second stimulus.
Today in the Senate Budget Committee hearing, senators are planning to push Geithner to get other countries to pass their own stimulus plans. It’s a message Geithner will take with him to London today.
–George Stephanopoulos
Santorum: Money Will Not Defeat Obama, Ideas Will 
Rick Santorum's Full Speech at CPAC 2012
The doom and gloom predicted by the conservative talking heads will not come to pass. Obama and his team have plenty of sizable and viable plans for the economy and the banks. The good news is that it appears they’re finally willing to let a few substantive details trickle out of Geithner, etc.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | March 12, 2009, 9:16 am 9:16 am
I see now they are starting to talk about the republican plans that people like Newt weretalking about. Market to Market rules etc. Maybe they should sit back and listen. The repulicans actually have some great ideas to fix the economy.
Posted by: KAREN | March 12, 2009, 9:39 am 9:39 am
The problem is that even if the Republicans have “great ideas”, they have zero credibility. After what 8 years of Bush has left us, can you blame people for thinking that Repubs are a joke?
Posted by: JRS | March 12, 2009, 10:17 am 10:17 am
So- Obama is selling off the country to Soros?
Fantastic.
I knew there was a deal in here somewhere for Soros.
Payback time?
Why else would Obama drive the value of “toxic assets” so low without making a move to stabilize them?
Posted by: drjohn | March 12, 2009, 10:51 am 10:51 am
Posted by: JRS | Mar 12, 2009 10:17:54 AM
When did your brain actually die?
The last two years came to you courtesy of Democrats. They controlled the purse strings. They controlled the Congress. THEY spent more than Bush asked for. THEY blocked all efforts to reform GSE’s.
What you want to believe and the truth aren’t the same thing.
Posted by: drjohn | March 12, 2009, 10:53 am 10:53 am
So….they do have a plan after all?
WSJ survey of economists gave BOTH Obama & Geithner FAILING GRADES on the economic recovery.
Main criticism was the delays get the plan enacted.
I guess these guys were never part of those approval polls!
Posted by: Mike_C | March 12, 2009, 11:08 am 11:08 am
What exactly are the Republiecans’ ideas
for dealing with the economy?
Posted by: William J. LePetomane | March 12, 2009, 11:23 am 11:23 am
What exactly are the Republiecans’ ideas
for dealing with the economy?
————————————
William J. LePetomane ,
I thought Republicans were not relevant anymore. I thought Republicans were going to lose more and more congressional seats with every future election. Now when faced with legitmate criticism, you come back the “What exactly are the Republiecans’ ideas for dealing with the economy?”
This is not about any Republican plan at all. This is about Obama & his “wonder boy” on the hot seat.
”
(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the world’s largest economy, according to participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.
A majority of the 49 economists polled said they were dissatisfied with the administration’s economic policies, according to the paper, a stark contrast to Obama’s popularity ratings with the general public.
On average, the economists gave the president a grade of 59 out of 100, and although there was a broad range of marks, 42 percent of respondents rated Obama below 60, the paper said.
Geithner received an average grade of 51, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scored better, with an average 71, the paper said.
On average, the economists now expect the economic downturn to end in October, according to the paper. In the previous survey, they had expected the bottom would arrive in August.
The economists’ main criticism of the Obama team centered on delays in enacting key parts of plans to rescue banks, the paper said. “They overpromised and underdelivered,” said Stephen Stanley of RBS Greenwich Capital. “Secretary Geithner scheduled a big speech and came out with just a vague blueprint. The uncertainty is hanging over everyone’s head.”
“
Posted by: Mike_C | March 12, 2009, 12:08 pm 12:08 pm
Am I the only person in the world that worries that the worldwide funds used to purchase our government bonds and T-Bills may dry up? If that happens, the only stimulus will be the destuction of our money systems as we currently know it and worse financial havoc globally.
Posted by: Brian Nettles | March 12, 2009, 3:25 pm 3:25 pm
Brian shut up. If you are so smart, why aren’t you running anything. besides your mouth?
Posted by: Rev. Ike | March 12, 2009, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
I agree that we need to look at the bigger picture and try to save the global economy. Just look at what happened in Europe and Asia when our stocks started to decline. The Borgen Project (www.borgenproject.org) has some great ideas on how to bring the worlds poor into the market and to give them the tools needed to become a more independent nation. By helping them it is giving companies a broader range of people to market to, as there are 963 million people that are hungry every day.
Posted by: cougar_gal | March 12, 2009, 3:39 pm 3:39 pm
More whining while the economy actually begins to revive (you’ll see in the next few days). There was a time when nearly all Americans banded together, put their heads down and contributed to get us out of a mess whether it was a depression or a war.
Thank God most of the country are still doing their part in their own stations. There’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism of our elected officials but unceasing and negative rants and pouncing on every headline, badly phrased or real is no way to be a useful citizen or contribute to a great country. The elections are gone now we have four years to do the best with our collective choice without whining or get rid of them in 4 years.
Posted by: J. Richter | March 12, 2009, 5:32 pm 5:32 pm
The stimulas package took care of the public sector, the labor unions,and every other special interest on the democratic wish list. It did not address the immediate crisis of consumer confidence and credit. There is not one supplier with whom I do business that has not had layoffs. My own business is down 50%. The private sector of this economy is being strangled and when it starts failing en masse economic catastrophe will take on a whole new meaning.
Posted by: Fran | March 12, 2009, 6:20 pm 6:20 pm
The Dow is UP!!!
Posted by: Rev. Ike | March 12, 2009, 7:51 pm 7:51 pm
Man…yall should chill…Obama got this! the economy is ugly right now and we gotta spend some money for reforms. It’ll get better
Posted by: BD | March 13, 2009, 8:10 pm 8:10 pm
Karen: You said (quote) “The repulicans actually have some great ideas to fix the economy.”(close quote).
You’ve got to be kidding. It is THEIR ideas that put the country into the mess we are in now. Supply side failure, tax cuts for economic pigs, multi-trillion designer wars on the Chinese credit card… “good ideas?” OMG.
Posted by: JL | March 14, 2009, 6:32 am 6:32 am
Mike_C : If your grade for Obama is “failing”…what was your ‘grade’ for George W. Bush? Were you one of those “we support the troops (aka we love the Iraq War) guys with the flag flying on your SUV that were 300 percent behind GW Bush when he was flying high and nobody knew yet or cared what a crook he was?
You cons never cease to amaze me with your hypocrisy: you burn down the country under 15 years of Republican dominance in government, but now with a month in office, you have the GALL to assign a failing grade to the new president that the majority elected to FIX the mess while they THREW YOUR PARTY OUT OF OFFICE FOR WHAT IT DID TO OUR COUNTRY? To see a failing grade, LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
Posted by: JL | March 14, 2009, 6:37 am 6:37 am
Obama is a freaking IDIOT. He is brainless sack of bones and only speaks well from a teleprompter.
Posted by: pete | March 21, 2009, 8:49 pm 8:49 pm
I think there is an awful long way to go before the current ‘economic crisis’ will start to subside. In my opinion Obama is making a reasonable start in trying to find a road toward recovery.
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