Hope, Tarnished

I, like most Americans, had fairly high hopes for the incoming Obama administration, but I’m beginning to get the queasy feeling that this hope was misplaced.  Most of our new President’s policies have been consistent with what one could expect from a mildly progressive, orthodox Democratic party, agenda, save for one- the Geithner TARP financial plan and the people behind it.  Unfortunately, with this single policy, produced by the suspicious cabal of economic “advisers” that seem to be only a “new” set of representatives on loan from the American oligarchy, Obama threatens to not only turn former supporters into vociferous opponents, but to also fail in correcting our headlong dive into ruinous economic decline that would negate all other accomplishments.

I, and many others, are truly puzzled and disheartened by the President’s dogged loyalty to people like Summers, Geithner, and Rubin- and the former masters of the universe that they represent.  The simplest explanation to this mystery would be that the “semi-permanent aristocracy of capital” is not so “semi-permanent” at all, and in fact is still calling the shots behind closed doors at the Treasury and the Fed.  As one astute reader of Professor Krugman’s blog noted:

“We may have a Democrat in the White House and a Keynesian fiscal policy, but we have GOP cronyism guiding policy at Treasury. That too is quite the joke, — a practical one played on anyone who voted for President Obama thinking that he represented a change in that regard from President Bush.”

At this point, Dr. Krugman is probably the most celebrated opponent of the Geithner plan.  He and others have done a much more eloquent job than I could of explaining why this plan is not only bad, but a sham reminiscent of those pursued by the last President.  Remember what happened to him?  Here is a highly recommended expose, and a more technical article which comprise a primer on how we found ourselves in this mess and why Obama may not be the one to impose a reversal of our current course.