Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

08 Mar 2010 11:09

tags

Politics: Is Timothy Geithner getting the credit he deserves?

  • Barring something unexpected, the bailout will end up costing taxpayers less than the savings-and-loan implosion of the early nineteen-nineties. The government could conceivably end up making money.
  • New Yorker writer John Cassidy • Regarding Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s much-maligned financial plan, which appears to be much less of a nightmare than it seemed a year ago. While many things are imperfect – the high unemployment rates and the bank’s seeming lack of desire to loan money to small business – it is looking like the government’s plan will likely put them in cash flow positive while helping to get the weakened economy out of its doldrums. Will Geithner get credit, though? source

21 Aug 2009 10:05

tags

U.S.: Tom Ridge sez Bush was using the warning system to play politics

  • Ridge says they tried to use it just before the election. Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge dropped out of the Bush administration after the first term due (in part) to his concern that the administration was using terror alerts to play politics. The 2004 election incident, specifically, pushed him over the edge. “After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government for the private sector,” he wrote in his new book. source

24 May 2009 18:54

tags

Politics, U.S.: Ex-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge says Cheney’s wrong

  • I disagree with Dick Cheney. Waterboarding is a matter of debate but it’s no longer an issue. Debate around memos and waterboarding don’t make us less safe.
  • Tom Ridge • The first Secretary of Homeland Security, on the debate over waterboarding and interrogation techniques. So, Colin Powell disagrees with former veep Dick Cheney – not so surprising. Tom Ridge disagreeing – kind of surprising. Hm. • source

05 May 2009 18:47

tags

Politics, U.S.: Timothy Geithner celebrates HIS 100th day. How’s he doin’?

  • He is faced with so many challenges, so many financial stalls to muck out, that it may be a long time before we can measure his results beyond his growing skill at projecting confidence.
  • Daily Beast blogger Allan Dodds Frank • In an analysis piece on Geithner so far. He says the treasury secretary has had so much on his plate compared to his predecessors that we have to focus on him in the long-term rather than by short-term results, which thus far have alternated between nightmarish and redemptive. • source

26 Mar 2009 10:56

tags

Biz, U.S.: Timothy Geithner wants to add more financial industry oversight

  • Our system failed in basic fundamental ways. The system proved too unstable and fragile, subject to significant crises every few years, periodic booms in real estate markets and in credit, followed by busts and contraction.
  • Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner • In testimony to the House Financial Services Committee (which is headed by awesome guy Barney Frank). He wants to fix the broken system. Hey, if he pulls it off, maybe people won’t hate him anymore. • source

03 Feb 2009 23:03

tags

U.S.: Obama ditches Tom Daschle – AND he takes the blame

  • Did I screw up in this situation? Absolutely. I’m willing to take my lumps.
  • Barack Obama • in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, on that Tom Daschle guy, who had to pay a ton in back taxes recently – a fact that came out when he was being vetted for Secretary of Health and Human Services • source