The US Senate Finance Committee said it will vote Tuesday on the appointment of Jack Lew — who played an active role in talks that led to massive looming spending cuts — as Treasury secretary. Lew, who was tapped last month to succeed Timothy Geithner in the key cabinet position, was…
State of the Union Address Conveniently Ignores Monetary Policy
Last night’s State of the Union
address made no mention of monetary policy. It did not include
the following words even once: monetary, Federal
Reserve, inflation, inflation rates or Treasury.
Come to think of it, Obama has never mentioned those terms in
reference to monetary policy during any of his State of the Union
addresses.
Obama devoted a large portion of his speech to the economy, and
rightly so. He referred to consumer confidence, budgets, and the
burden of higher priced goods on households. But ignoring the
essentials of monetary policy shouldn’t sit well with anyone.
Leaving out monetary policy from his address gives Americans an
incomplete picture of our road to recovery.
Perhaps Ben Bernanke,
Timothy Geithner, or Lawrence Summers—each of whom were
appointed to various positions in past administrations and have all
been involved in the financial crisis—deterred him from learning
about it.
But Obama has economic advisors, the Federal Reserve’s Board of
Governors and other employees of the Treasury Department at his
disposal, so intimidation is no defense.
Not confronting monetary policy allows Obama to ignore the
monopoly that government has on the creation of money. It doesn’t
force him to remember that our money is not backed by anything but
the faith we have in it. By ignoring monetary policy, Obama is
showing that he doesn’t grasp that faith is not a sound backing for
a nation’s currency. But Obama used the word “faith” three times
last night. The very first time is by far the most interesting:
Let’s agree—let’s agree, right here, right now, to keep the
people’s government open and pay our bills on time and always
uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of
America.
So we will restore faith and credit when we “pay our bills on
time” with money that isn’t backed by anything? If that’s the case,
it seems like we’re just handing out watermarked IOUs.
Why can’t we use a currency that not only fulfills the three
essential criteria of money but also lives up to the standard of
having the real full faith of the American public behind it?
Allowing
currencies to compete gives market participants a choice in
which currency they have “full faith” in because it serves its
functions and accounts for individual preferences, asserting its
soundness. … Read More
Richard (RJ) Eskow: Grading Geithner – And Waiting For Obama
Tim Geithner left office on Friday and the revisionism’s already underway. By any objective measure except one, Geithner’s tenure failed to achieve its goals. And that one success, in rescuing the mega-banks of Wall Street, may prove to be the undoing of Obama’s legacy. If bank misdeeds cause another crisis, which is very possible, he may be remembered for little else.
This, then, is a time for looking back at Geithner’s last four years – and the President’s next four.
Seriously, No
Overdrawn Fed Govt Dips into Pension Funds to Pay Bills
Don’t worry, folks! We can stay below the national debt limit! We’ll just take it from the pension funds!!!! … Read More
Obama goes with dark horse pick for Treasury secretary
http://www.youtube.com/v/wZzMvBfd1ZI?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Continue reading: Obama goes with dark horse pick for Treasury secretary
Obama Also Thinks Jack Lew’s Signature Is Ridiculous
“When this was highlighted yesterday in the press I considered rescinding my offer to appoint him,” the president jokes.
Source: media.npr.org
WASHINGTON — Jack Lew’s signature has been the joke of the Internet for 24 hours, and President Barack Obama is laughing too.
“I had never noticed Jack’s signature,” Obama quipped of his chief of staff's signature after he nominated him to be the next Treasury Secretary. “When this was highlighted yesterday in the press I considered rescinding my offer to appoint him.”
“Jack assures me that he will work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury,” Obama added.
Lew joked that he discovered Geithner's own challenge yesterday when his handwriting was plastered on hundreds of websites. “You know I thought I knew you pretty well, but it was only yesterday that I discovered that We both share a common challenge with penmanship,” he said.
Lew's signature is an incomprehensible series of circles resembling a spring, and like his predecessor, Timothy Geithner, will need a face-lift before appearing on U.S. currency.
