Good news: “Capitalism will be different” now, declares Geithner
posted at 3:45 pm on March 11, 2009 by Allahpundit
A bit of palate-cleansing nuance from last night’s “Charlie Rose,” to give you that jolt of confidence Pelosi keeps droning on about. And to think, The One’s worried that people might perceive him as a socialist. I can’t imagine why. Then again, if even the world’s most famous living Randian is calling for bank nationalization and confessing that his belief in a self-regulating market is deeply flawed, it’s safe to say that capitalism will, indeed, be different.
On a completely unrelated note, TARP recipients are starting to suspect the Democrats are using the funds for “social engineering.” Exit question: Is neglecting to staff the Treasury Department with more than one person a deliberate feature of this new, different golden age?
Blowback
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How can it be different and still be capitalism?
Count to 10 on March 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
The New Obahmbo explanation for it:
It is Spelled C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M. But it is pronounced “Socialism”.
portlandon on March 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Thanks for the heads-up, Eraserhead.
Mr. D on March 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Carville is a mendoucheous traitor.
Mr. Joe on March 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Note how he uses the word “design”. Our system was “not designed” to deal with a shock blah blah blah. He keeps using the word “design”.
joe_doufu on March 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Certainly you don’t expect The Precedent to stop planning his cocktail parties to actually staff a cabinet department, do you?
ladyingray on March 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
Just my take….
Liberty or Death on March 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
FIFY
NoFanofLibs on March 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
Is it just me or does Geitner look like Jack Nance from Eraserhead?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eraserheadposter.jpg
LincolntheHun on March 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
I want him to fail. In fact, I hope to help him fail. A lot.
beatcanvas on March 11, 2009 at 3:51 PM
It is by will alone I set the economy in motion. It is by the juice of the treasury that money acquires speed, the inflation rate goes up, consumer prices become a warning. It is by will alone I set the economy in motion.
Tim Geithner!
Mr. Joe on March 11, 2009 at 3:52 PM
I’ve said it before and will say it again and again and again…It’s like the donks are having a contest to see who can tell the biggest lie.
jukin on March 11, 2009 at 3:52 PM
“How can it be different and still be capitalism?”
I find your lack of faith… disturbing. (Cue the heavy breathing.)
Daddy-O on March 11, 2009 at 3:52 PM
I wonder whether Geithner, by his wholesale ineffectiveness, is now getting even with all the bullies who gave him wedgies and swirlies in junior high.
BuckeyeSam on March 11, 2009 at 3:53 PM
wow.
subbottomfeeder on March 11, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Dear Leader has issued the following order: It will now be spelled “Kapitalism”.
kingsjester on March 11, 2009 at 3:53 PM
What we had before wasn’t capitalism.
MarkTheGreat on March 11, 2009 at 3:54 PM
You bet capitalsim will be different, it will not ever be in our Republic with this bunch.
L
letget on March 11, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Mr. Joe on March 11, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Nice one!
LincolntheHun on March 11, 2009 at 3:55 PM
“…this is not about ability – it’s about will….”
wow.
subbottomfeeder on March 11, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Beat me to it! I personally willed myself to fix my car engine today despite the fact that I have no idea what I was doing. It works!
Hurricanes on March 11, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Kind of like how Hiroshima and Nagasaki were made different.
Jim Treacher on March 11, 2009 at 3:55 PM
It wasn’t Obama who nationalized AIG
it wasn’t Obama who nationalized Fannie and Freddie.
If you have anyone to blame for the downfall of capitalism start with Bush since his administration started with the Bailout-manina
nice343 on March 11, 2009 at 3:56 PM
I agree with Glenn, give these jokers 25 states, give us 25 states…
Conservative Voice on March 11, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Give him a wedgie and send him home. (BTW, Tim, I know where you keep your Penthouse Forum. It’s in your sock drawer. Your mom told me she found it when she was cleaning your room.)
keep the change on March 11, 2009 at 3:56 PM
WHY IS THIS MAN DOING TV INTERVIEWS?!?
He doesn’t even have a full staff and won’t take the UK Government calls!
But hey, Charlie Rose wants ta talk and he can spew his rhetoric.
The same man who helped CAUSE this mess.
GAH!
Skywise on March 11, 2009 at 3:56 PM
I said this in another thread. One person, better control…not only from Geithner’s standpoint but also from the administration (whoever it is that is really in charge).
genso on March 11, 2009 at 3:57 PM
Is it just me or does Geitner look like Jack Nance from Eraserhead?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eraserheadposter.jpg
LincolntheHun on March 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
For some reason, I think that if you put a space helmet on that head, Geither would look like the Great Gazoo from the Flinstones (voice by the late Harvey Korman).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gazoo
BuckeyeSam on March 11, 2009 at 3:57 PM
In Soviet America, Market beats YOU!
pseudonominus on March 11, 2009 at 3:57 PM
Bring in that great floating fat man…the Fwank!!
AubieJon on March 11, 2009 at 3:57 PM
This is your government on drugs…
elgeneralisimo on March 11, 2009 at 3:58 PM
When the Resolution Trust Corp. took over a lot of failing savings and loans back in the ’80′s? they fired the mgm’t and the shareholders lost their investment. The banks never closed, for the most part– they re-opened minus their lousy assets, which the gov’t auctioned.
A former FDIC head,Bill Seidman, is often on CNBC explaining how it worked–and it worked well.
Technically,that’s a nationalization. But I think a bankruptcy of a bank, because it has deposits that need to be protected, is always in some ways a “nationalization.”
So the word is kind of misused, I believe, in this context. We need govt’s for a limited number of vital purposes–a functioning banking system being one of them, and functioning means protecting the innocent depositor’s money. That means nationalization sometimes, but not the type they’re doing now, which is quasi,and seemingly never-ending.
JiangxiDad on March 11, 2009 at 3:58 PM
And he waved his mighty hand….
lorien1973 on March 11, 2009 at 3:58 PM
How can you call fascism “capitalism” and keep a straight face? Fire this clown.
chunderroad on March 11, 2009 at 3:59 PM
The only problem with our system is that geeks like this guy keep thinking that they are smart enough to design it in the first place.
MarkTheGreat on March 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Kleptocracy is what they call it now, I think.
lorien1973 on March 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Yes, but creepier. Eraserhead only effected me while I watched. This guy and his overlord will be effecting me longer and harder whether I watch or not.
ej_pez on March 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM
http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-1844-Career-Growth-and-Change-How-to-Obamafy-Your-Career/?sc_extcmp=JS_1844_home1&SiteId=cbmsnhp41844&ArticleID=1844>1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=3f4ed015a8c64b17a8ccfe5d6c14c882-290102274-w9-6
Saw this on MSN and thought is was too funny not to share. For those of you who are looking for work in this economy, give it a try, worked for Bambi.
:P LOL
milwife88 on March 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM
…and parted the sea with one mighty blast of his nostril.
TwinkietheKid on March 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Welcome to State Capitalism.
CP on March 11, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Yeah? Really? Ummhmm. Your Obotomy scars are showing.
AubieJon on March 11, 2009 at 4:01 PM
True, they will set up a world regulation to stop the bank’s 50 trillions in 2008 losses from happening again.
getalife on March 11, 2009 at 4:02 PM
Socialism, nah…just a different kind of capitalism.
d1carter on March 11, 2009 at 4:03 PM
Yep, but just because the road off the cliff was paved for you, doesn’t mean you gun the engine and see how fast you can hit the bottom. N’est pas?
lorien1973 on March 11, 2009 at 4:04 PM
It is a fact you cannot deny. The Bush administration started the bailout nonsense. Obama just took it to a whole other level.
nice343 on March 11, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Interesting, both Eraserhead and Dune are David Lynch films.
carbon_footprint on March 11, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Go on the website “Despair,” they’re selling new kleptocracy t-shirts in response to Obama
Chiasmos on March 11, 2009 at 4:05 PM
More like Eraseyourbread, amirite?
carbon_footprint on March 11, 2009 at 4:06 PM
What a dip$h/t…both of them.
RobCon on March 11, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Kind of like that thing that went around many years ago explaining the flexibile and eloquent use of the f-bomb!
Nuking of Hiroshima –
Mayor of Hiroshima: What the F was that noise?!?!?!
Tanking of the stock market and US economy:
Geithner: What the F was that noise?!?!?!
Liberty or Death on March 11, 2009 at 4:06 PM
If you have anyone to blame for the downfall of capitalism start with Bush since his administration started with the Bailout-manina
nice343 on March 11, 2009 at 3:56 PM
The operative word is “started”; usually when you are attempting to take the high road by saying the other guy started it, it’s a good idea not to continue doing what they did. Then again, Ogabe isn’t exactly part of the American brain trust, so we really can’t expect much out of him.
Bishop on March 11, 2009 at 4:06 PM
JiangxiDad on March 11, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Hello everyone, I’m in Nigeria, I came here to pick up my $12 for the deposit I made of $20,000!!! Can you believe it? Capitalism still works. You have someone with a need and someone who has $ or a service that works. Isn’t that right? Really, isn’t it? No seriously, I want to believe, am I off base here?
hip shot on March 11, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Through no fault of his own, right?
Jim Treacher on March 11, 2009 at 4:07 PM
JiangxiDad on March 11, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Shhh, I am invisable here.
getalife on March 11, 2009 at 4:08 PM
You got 4 hours outta him… whaddya want? :)
Skywise on March 11, 2009 at 4:08 PM
Not denying it, but to lay the blame for what Obama is doing at the feet of Pres. Bush is ridiculous. Obama has eclipsed what Bush did by leaps and bounds, and shows no sign of letting up.
AubieJon on March 11, 2009 at 4:08 PM
A man who is so dumb that he can’t figure out the super-easy “Turbo Tax” program, and is known to be the architect behind the Asian Economic Crisis of the 1990s, now proclaim that “Capitalism will be different”…
This lightweight of a Treasury Secretary is a joke
Norwegian on March 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Error, my post should have read $12 million!!!!!!!!!!!!
hip shot on March 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Now everyone be nice to the “True Believer” (nice343)
he and his ilk will soon be endangered (One you have lost Whoopie what’s left) once they realize there are no unicorn parades and rainbow dances coming.
When they curl up in a corner having wet themselves try not to snicker.
LincolntheHun on March 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Maybe with TARP II they should allocate some money to Donald Trump so that Geithner can learn how to get the “onion peel” on his head.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on March 11, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Kinda like the no earmarks thing from Ogabe.
I’m scared of the obama-depression.
-Hail obama-
JiangxiDad on March 11, 2009 at 4:10 PM
I wish I hadn’t gone to the link. Unbelievable. The author of the article is a unapologetic Kool-Aid drinker. I’m sure she’ll be face down in vomit when it comes time to make the final journey for the O. Here’s an excerpt that I can’t even begin to get my mind around because any time I hear him speaking, he refers only to himself–I, me, I, me.
What nonsense in regard to Obama.
BuckeyeSam on March 11, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Chump. Look at the specific Treasury positions that are STILL vacant. It’s astonishing. There is not a doubt in my mind that Obama wants to kill the economy and destroy the markets.
marklmail on March 11, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Electing an unqualified, unaccomplished, two-bit Malcom X knock-off and giving this jackass a Democrat Congress, was like giving crystal meth to juvenile delinquents.
This fiasco of administration will end one way or the other, but it will end.
The recovery begins the moment Obama/Biden leave office and not a moment before.
NoDonkey on March 11, 2009 at 4:11 PM
He’s a fawn, and when he makes those serious faces like a grown-up, he’s just so cute.
JiangxiDad on March 11, 2009 at 4:12 PM
These words are from the same types who brought you ACORN – and look what impact they had on the housing market!
Cinday Blackburn on March 11, 2009 at 4:12 PM
Capitalism works just fine…….
……. it’s the Social Engineering aspect of Federal Regulations forcing financial institutions to give loans to people who couldn’t pay it back is what fu$ked it up, Butt Boy!
Seven Percent Solution on March 11, 2009 at 4:13 PM
It’s a bad case of constructivist rationalism. Unfortunately by the time symptoms present it’s generally fatal.
DrSteve on March 11, 2009 at 4:13 PM
And if we take your (ahem) logic a bit further, we should blame your parents – and not you – for everything you’ve ever done.
AubieJon on March 11, 2009 at 4:13 PM
>>>Exit Question
An oligarchy is necessarily a very exclusive club. It would not be much of an oligarchy if we let too many plebes join in. Kinda like the Politburo.
innominatus on March 11, 2009 at 4:14 PM
BuckeyeSam on March 11, 2009 at 4:11 PM
I agree. I am still shaking my head over that one. It is amazing the shear stupidity of some people.
milwife88 on March 11, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Yes indeed, all is proceeding according to Osama Obama’s “design.”
What we’re seeing is Unintelligent Design at work. The nation is evolving from a republic to a Third-World combination of Zimbabwe, Kenya and Poh-kee-stohn.
Way to go, child-president. And now, it’s time for you to go.
MrScribbler on March 11, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Did someone mess with this video before posting it to YouTube?
Check out what happens to TinyTimTurboTax’s face at 1:17 to 1:21 — it’s like a zit spontaneously appears on his right cheek and disappears.
I CAN’T be the first one that noticed that. Can I?
L.N. Smithee on March 11, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Dow up two days in arow.
Tim saves the bush depression.
Lets thank him instead of attacking him.
getalife on March 11, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Greenspan can’t really belive that the markets were ever “free” to begin with.
Some day he’ll marry a younger wife and admit those statements were the only way he could get her to put out.
Note to White House. All of the hot economies got hot by reducing government interference, including taxation. No economy was ever saved by central planning. Your talk about the “design” of the markets reveals the flaw of your arguments. Government regulations weren’t designed for these eventualities. Who knows what the next problem will be? You know that Congress doesn’t have that answer.
Government regulations don’t solve problems, they just move them to different people. Government-run businesses aren’t as efficent as private ones, and government plans don’t succeed as well as private ones. Government-run local schools don’t teach as well as private ones. Government-run hospitals don’t heal as well as private ones.
hawksruleva on March 11, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Getalife. Wonder why we are bailing out companies that have turned a profit?
Or are those thoughts too confusing?
lorien1973 on March 11, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Does this mean Obama is Feyd?
“All I see, umm, is an economy I want to, umm, kill.”
MBuck on March 11, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Hahaha…first of all this mess started with Dodd, Franks, and many other dems along with ACORN using strong arm tactics to force banks into make very risky loans to people that could no afford them and would not be able to pay the note, thus defaulting!
Repubs including Bush and McCain tried to get more oversight of FM/FM (and all financial institutions in general) and their efforts were squished by the dems! This is what led us to the mess we’re in now, but then again I shouldn’t expect nor be surprised when a lefty like nice cannot face facts let alone admit the lefty dems they’re so proud of and defend at every turn are the ones mostly responsible for this mess!
Nice; I would get your facts straight next time before removing all doubt about your lack of intelligence genious!
Liberty or Death on March 11, 2009 at 4:17 PM
When you get an assistant Tim, you won’t have to text your comments, and someone will be able to organize your thoughts for you into paragraphs.
-Hail Obama-
JiangxiDad on March 11, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Oh, HALLELUJAH! Two DAYS of upswing! We’re SAVED!!
I’m sorry; did that sound insincere?
MBuck on March 11, 2009 at 4:19 PM
“No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?”
- George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 5
Oink on March 11, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Whatever happened to “we will come out of this crisis because of the will of the American people?” Everything is now about “the one”, and “the government”. choke, gag, arggghhh!
Susanboo on March 11, 2009 at 4:19 PM
In other words it will be socialism.
lavell12 on March 11, 2009 at 4:20 PM
To save them to turn a profit again and save jobs.
getalife on March 11, 2009 at 4:20 PM
The market is a forward-looking entity, indeed, but it is driven by the decentralized actions of millions of investors every second. It’s the opposite of politics. And this setup surely offends the sensibilities of the statist planners occupying Washington. Unlike politicians, markets don’t lie. And this market has been in free fall for a year.
So, what to do? Obama, who promised not to raise taxes during a recession, now plans to raise nearly $1 trillion in new taxes directly from the investor class. He plans to raise capital gains taxes (a disincentive to investment), corporate taxes (for you, the consumer, ultimately to pay) and on the “rich” (which the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimates will affect 1.3 million small-business owners).
This recession already has passed the 15-month threshold, the historical average for downturns. Most presidents helped ease us out of those tough spots by easing the burden on Americans. Obama has engaged in the opposite. That’s his gamble.
And most polls show the president’s approval rating at about 60 percent, which is similar to other modern presidents’ ratings at this point in their presidencies. But now that Obama has used his political capital to further ideology rather than economic growth, one thing is clear: He owns this mess.
Read the whole thing:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/132178.html
Keemo on March 11, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Hehehe…two days don’t make a bull market or a healthy economic system genius! As for the “bush depression” look at my previous post for an answer to that one!
Liberty or Death on March 11, 2009 at 4:20 PM
GAG ME!!!!!
Susanboo on March 11, 2009 at 4:21 PM
From Merriam-Webster Online:
Okay Timmah. From this definition, how is it going to be different? Please elaborate.
If it’s anything other than the difinition, its not ‘Capitalism’.
PappaMac on March 11, 2009 at 4:21 PM
When das fuhrer speaks, we must follow!
GarandFan on March 11, 2009 at 4:21 PM
I don’t think Geithner is smart enough to transform the USA into a socialist nation. Thank God.
I’m sorry, but the guy looks like a hydrocephalic elf. EPIC FAIL for Barry. Again, Thank God.
My mom said all the folks at her bridge studio are starting to say unfortunate things about The One, and they all voted for him. Some of them were “conservatives” who thought they were sending a message to the GOP (oops) but quite a few of them are liberals and have been liberals since the days of LBJ.
That’s good news for 2010 if the idiot conservatives and republicans can pound on stories like Madame Pelosi’s attitude toward military air travel, etc. The nation is primed by Obama, but somebody’s got to get the memo to push the Pelosi story HARD for the rest of the week instead of talking about Limbaugh and OctoFrum and the Pussycats.
funky chicken on March 11, 2009 at 4:22 PM
nice call
Chiasmos on March 11, 2009 at 4:22 PM
There regulations are what caused the current losses, yet somehow these magical new regulations are going to prevent it from ever happening again.
MarkTheGreat on March 11, 2009 at 4:23 PM
If they wanted to socialize the country they would fully socialize the banks and other companies begging for bailouts.
Tim refused.
That argument is ridiculous.
getalife on March 11, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Riiiiight! Congress deserves no blame, eh? They wrote the TARP bill(with Geithner’s help writing the legislation), and forgot to put any oversight clauses to track where and how the money was spent. Ridiculous!
mossberg500 on March 11, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Evil, money-grubbing capitalists and their unrestrained
creationacquisition of wealth!mankai on March 11, 2009 at 4:25 PM
When are you all going to wake up that the international banks and in our case, the Fed, are the real problem here? They, with the help of our politicians, are selling our nation down the evil river of debt. Read “The Creature from Jekyll Island,” it’s a good place to start, but the history of nations being indebted to banks is much older than that.
How do you people think that One Worldism is being carried out? It will be a one world ECONOMIC order, all interlinked with megacorporations and the international banks with paid off politicians, our sovereignty be damned. Speaking economically, borders will mean even less.
The Fed must go.
God, please wake these people up.
True_King on March 11, 2009 at 4:27 PM
Learn some history. You have to go back to Wilson.
This shows you what a powerful force for good that capitalism is. It has taken 95 years of constant assault to bring it to near death–and it still lives in the people who refuse to give in to the statists.
single stack on March 11, 2009 at 4:27 PM
Explain… specifically… what caused the “Bush Depression”?
mankai on March 11, 2009 at 4:27 PM
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