THIS IS AN EX PARROT!

Mr. Praline: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile! (link).

THIS IS AN EX PARROT!

Bill Greider, Timothy Geithner, and the Almost-President

Bill Greider, who made his bones with his masterful history of the Fed, is not impressed:

Public wrath will swell when people learn the particulars of the extremely generous deal-making with Wall Street. If he's not careful, Obama will be on the receiving end of the blame. He should seriously consider withdrawing his nomination of Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, to be Treasury secretary. Geithner is the badly soiled negotiator who worked out some of the most dubious deals. His easy terms protected shareholders and executives but demanded almost nothing from the failing banks for the public. Worst of all, the deals did not work. They have failed to stabilize much of anything and are still putting Wall Street preservation ahead of the national interest. Where is the evidence that we can expect a different approach if Geithner is in charge? Or even that he understands the true dimensions of this crisis? Obama had better get answers up front, or else he might wind up as history's fall guy.

It's a thought with hanging onto. What impresses me most about Geithner is how pale he appears in the shadow of Larry Summers. He seems to have worked his way up as the indispensable second man, and it looks like he may be in for more of the same.

The Un-Paulson

I am hardly in a position to evaluate the qualifications of the new Secretary of Treasury but I note one important point on his resume: it appears that he is one person who has mastered the intricacies of the financial system without himself getting stinking rich. I haven't surveyed the roster in detail (but cf. link). And I concede there are some (few?) whose career does speak more of power than mere money. But perhaps it comes with the territory: most ST's appears to have a balance sheet that would do credit to Scrooge McDuck.

Timorhy Geithner's resume bears every evidence of solvency, sure, but riches are a different stdory. I grant that poverty cannot be regarded as necessarily a qualification for ST: if poverty alone were a qualification, why then we could just hoick up some derelict from outside the parking garage. And a taste for power can be just as poisonous to public discourse as a taste for wealth. But it might be refreshing for a change to have someone around who will not simply choke on his own dividends.