Tax Cheat Geithner's Bailout Plan Laughable

A bailout plan so bad it drew laughs and snickers from lawmakers on both sides of the isle. The tax cheating Treasury Secretary rolled out his plan today before the American people and within minutes the stock market began to tumble. And tumble it did. It didn't stop till the end of the day with a 4% loss across the board. Seems nobody is impressed with this bundle of crap.

Economist Brian Bethune of IHS Global Insight said of the plan, "The bottom line from the Geithner speech is that it was too general, and it lacked the specifics needed to be credible."
UPDATE: 2/11/09 (scroll down)

Administration Officials Met With Laughter At Bailout Briefing

Administration officials were greeted with sarcasm and laughter Monday night when they briefed lawmakers and congressional staff on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's new financial-sector bailout project, according to people who were in the room.

The laughter was at its height when Obama officials explained that the White House planned to guarantee a wide swath of toxic assets -- which they referred to as "legacy assets" -- but wouldn't be asking Congress for money. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), a bailout opponent in the fall, asked the officials to give Congress the total dollar figure for which they were on the hook. The officials said that they couldn't provide a number, a response met by chuckling that was bipartisan, but tilted toward the GOP side. By guaranteeing the assets, Geithner hopes he can persuade the private sector to purchase a portion of them.

Congress may be able to do little more than laugh. The Federal Reserve, in extreme situations, is allowed to intervene in the financial markets in dramatic ways. The Fed jumped into the markets long before the $700 billion bailout passed through Congress by guaranteeing toxic assets held by CitiGroup and Bank of America.

The plan appears to be nothing more than another hope and a prayer.

UPDATE: CNBC “Fast Money” host Dylan Ratigan had his own description of Geithner’s performance. In an appearance on MSNBC’s Feb. 11 “Morning Joe,” he likened it to “soiling a bed.”

“He soiled the bed,” Ratigan said. “He did, and that’s not to say it’s not a good plan – potentially, that it doesn’t have good elements.”