Feeding the Fever Line

Why did Obama's pick to head Treasury spark up the market?

By Daniel Gross | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Nov 21, 2008

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  • Posted By: regina_pfaefflin@hotmail.com @ 11/25/2008 3:05:37 PM

    Congress is the ones who set the budget and control spending. And for two years, both houses of the Congress have been controlled by Democrats. But to be perfectly accurate, both parties are guilty of overspending. The entire system of how bills are passed needs to be adjusted. No more adding pork in order to get your agenda through. Bring in line item veto if the pork persists. As for housing, let's put that blame where it belongs. Some of It is the greed of those who bought houses they either couldn't afford or they took out variable rate loans to buy more than they needed. There is no way that I would ever consider buying a house at the top end of what I qualify for.

  • Posted By: tscar12 @ 11/21/2008 9:24:53 PM

    Geithner is not a bad appointment. The problem is several-fold: 1) The economy has taken on a globally integrated life of its own with the nations that have and would have financed our national debt especially given President-elect Obama???s aggressive Keynesian policies are more complex than one person can really affect. The 2nd problem is that Obama's promises that got him elected, if enacted, will economically, spell doom for our country. There is of course the eternal 3rd problem and that is Congress and it's penchant whether Democrat or Republican to spend like there is no tomorrow and if we don't focus on reducing our debt, there will be no tomorrow.

    • Posted By: Republican be gone @ 11/22/2008 5:15:56 PM

      You are solidly right about the spending, though. That's totally out of control. When the current mess is dealt with then we'll have to tackle spending, which, if it keeps up, will bankrupt the country. This is even with the government stealing social security taxes to use in the general budget!

      I used to think that if the republicans were put in charge we might end up with a theocracy or police state or as menials to serve the rich but at least the spending problem would be under control. But that was before Reagan and the Bushes.

      I generally vote democratic but I'm a blue dog.

    • Posted By: Republican be gone @ 11/22/2008 5:09:32 PM

      So the country is doomed because a democrat got elected. Dude, in case you haven't noticed, the country is in quite a hole already and it ain't the democrats that did it.

  • Posted By: cyndave @ 11/22/2008 2:01:07 PM

    appointing brains rather than cronies! What a refreshing idea, especially since the Old White Guys network really fouled thing up.

    • Posted By: Republican be gone @ 11/22/2008 5:06:08 PM

      Yeah, competence rather than cronies. No more screwup of the month club.

    • Posted By: bighappy @ 11/22/2008 4:59:31 PM

      Who is the brain? This banker has the tail alwais pointing in right direction (for him, not for country). I bet his first at will be bailing out GM, because Obama wants it..

  • Posted By: sai_chai @ 11/22/2008 3:55:17 PM

    Um, the market improved because.........it is a stupid, volatile market completely divorced from the reality of the American economy. That would be my guess. Geitner is a central banker and is not going to do any better -or worse for that matter- than Paulson. Getting rid of the "Central Bank" would be the biggest boon to the economy.

    • Posted By: bighappy @ 11/22/2008 5:01:34 PM

      Good economist would be much better. The problem is, Obama could not find one whho would agree with his ideas, starting Big 3 bailout.

  • Posted By: OnlyCure=Truth @ 11/22/2008 3:25:02 PM

    Paulson was covering his tracks. He used to work for Goldman Sacks they where one of the biggest failers of all. Greed and coverups.

  • Posted By: OnlyCure=Truth @ 11/22/2008 3:23:10 PM

    Banker insider umm. Very disappointing. Some things nev er change.

  • Posted By: cyndave @ 11/22/2008 2:08:04 PM

    Appointing brains instead of cronies? What a refreshing idea; better than selecting a name from the Old White Guys network.

  • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 11/22/2008 1:40:00 PM

    Well it was a much better pick than another Paulson, what I want to know is why Paulson who is behind getting rid of the net capital rule now given $700 billion to bail out the people who took avantage of this bit of deregulation?

  • Posted By: techie22 @ 11/22/2008 12:34:02 PM

    Return to competence !
    Well thought out !
    Thank God !

  • Posted By: marley07 @ 11/21/2008 8:52:40 PM

    for those of you who do not work with the markets on a daily basis, never lsiten to the media on why the markets move on a given day. This choice had nothing to do with this. The media is so amazingly stupid.

    • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/22/2008 11:29:09 AM

      So if Obama's pick was irrelevant, what's the explanation since you apparently consider yourself a market expert? If it continues upward Monday, it will at least demonstrate to some degree that the pick wasn't harmful. I'm gonna love the sound of RepubliCONs choking down crow two years from now. The right's little FUD campaign is gonna fall flat in pretty short order. Wingnuts got a choice now, they can either get with the program or become more and more marginalized.

  • Posted By: rube @ 11/21/2008 7:45:59 PM

    Even Donald Duck and Yosemite Sam are a slam dunk better than Bush and his destructive neocon circus!

    • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/22/2008 11:13:38 AM

      Hey Yosemite Sam, now there's a guy strong on defense - Bush style. He's the root'n toot'nest, straightest shootenist Hombre west of the Pecos. His foreign policy: "Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out."

  • Posted By: archmsu @ 11/21/2008 8:21:07 PM

    Obama for Change.................Give me a break!! His cabinet is full of old DC players so far. More of the same, same problems-different party.

    • Posted By: klebrun @ 11/21/2008 10:46:53 PM

      This is a replay of the 1929 crash in which a third term Republican administration was aggressively pushing deregulation and a replay of the Reagan deregulation which resulted in the Savings and Loan disaster and now the Bush disaster after another round of deregulation.

      And Phil Gramm, McCains choice for Treasury and a PHD in economics, says it is all because we are a bunch of whiners - nothing wrong with the economy and subprime mortgages are great for the economy.
      With two months left, it is too late to get these idiots engaged with the real world.

      The lesson learned is that you can't give children a can of gasoline and matches and tell them to go outside and play. They will, and in this case they did, burn the house down. The best long term solution is to keep the conservatives away from the nation's purse strings. Give them some other toys to play with that will keep them happy.

  • Posted By: bighappy @ 11/21/2008 10:24:18 PM

    in time of crisis this position is for scientist, who will not be afraid of politicians (what can they do to him? Send him back to his univercity?) and do what is the best for the country. Instead Obama selected a typical manager, who will do whateve is best to satisfy Obama. Starting from GM bailout.

  • Posted By: cwinebarger @ 11/21/2008 8:40:46 PM

    I love the peanut gallery spouting off and screaming "where is the change?!" two weeks after Obama was elected. Obama promised change, but he didn't promise that he'd hire plumbers for his cabinet. Of course there will be plenty of experienced cabinet members. When you're a young coach, you don't swoop in and start a bunch of rookies. When you're a young CEO, you don't replace all the VPs and directors with fresh graduates. Think about it.

    • Posted By: archmsu @ 11/21/2008 9:38:25 PM

      Yes of course, this is page one of the Demcratic party's playbook. Where have you been? Enjoy the ego trip.....because come Jan you'll realize you just elected a puppet to rich elitists and socialists, just like Bush was a puppet to the "good ol'e boys club." Same problem - different idiot in charge..........

  • Posted By: FRam @ 11/21/2008 8:53:14 PM

    ARHMSU AND BIGHAPPY....THESE ARE THE EXAMPLES OF SORE LOSERS....WAIT TILL JANUARY....AT PRESENT BOTH OF YOU SHOULD AND MUST BLAME YOUR HERO...BUSH.

    • Posted By: archmsu @ 11/21/2008 9:16:43 PM

      I didn't vote for McCain or Bush!! I don't really have much faith in the US government. Why do you? Welfare - unemployment benefits? By the way, hasn't Congress been under Democratic control for the last two years? Also, wasn't it Bill Clinton who deregulated the financial lending industry?
      P.S. Who are you going to blame for all your problems when Obama takes office?

  • Posted By: bighappy @ 11/21/2008 8:17:35 PM

    Does anybody know what is his opinion of GM bailout?

  • Posted By: newsrain @ 11/21/2008 7:47:18 PM

    Ooops, posted my comments below in the wrong article. Sorry about that, should be the other one.

  • Posted By: newsrain @ 11/21/2008 7:43:05 PM

    I think the nomination of Timothy Geithner is great choice, definitely an intelligent choice. I find rather appalling the many comments here blaming this on Obama. I'm not one to always defend Obama, but if you're going to make an argument, make sure you know the facts first. Obama is a president-elect, he has not take office, and so for him to make any financial policies at the moment is an infringement on our current president. The stock market itself is largely based on public sentiment, it goes up when people feel good, like the choice of Geithner today, and vice versa. This is not to say that the economy isn't in terrible shape, but there's a lot of rapid re-structuring and aid being done to get the finance system running again. When that starts going, businesses can get loans, they have more monetary assets, which leads to more job creation, which leads to the public having more money to spend as consumers. When that comes, the whole economy will hopefully start to get back on track. This will take time, so it's not like Bush or Obama or whoever can just snap their fingers, say the magic word, and suddenly everything will be all fine.

  • Posted By: Principia @ 11/21/2008 6:36:48 PM

    Nice article, Mr. Gross, thank you. I feel Mr. Geithner an excellent choice for Treasury Secretary by President-elect Obama. It won't be an easy job, but I believe Timothy Geithner has the wisdom and experience to get it done. Organizational skills, rather than tired patriarchal control, appears to be a great asset in the Obama-Biden Administration and something positive for the future of America.

  • Posted By: Principia @ 11/21/2008 6:36:02 PM

    Nice article, Mr. Gross, thank you. I feel Mr. Geithner an excellent choice for Treasury Secretary by President-elect Obama. It won't be an easy job, but I believe Timothy Geithner has the wisdom and experience to get it done. Organizational skills, rather than tired patriarchal control, appears to be a great asset in the Obama-Biden Administration and something positive for the future of America.

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