Thursday, November 13, 2008

Treasury Secretary Contradicts Himself

Paulson said the financial industry's situation has worsened since the bill was passed, prompting him to spent nearly $250 billion to buy equity stakes in banks.

"Although the financial system has stabilized, both banks and nonbanks may well need more capital — given their troubled asset holdings, projections for continued high rates of foreclosures and stagnant U.S. and world economic conditions," Paulson said.

The Treasury secretary warned that the nation's financial system "remains fragile" and that "significant illiquid assets" continued to present difficulties.

But "overall, we are in a better position than we were" two months ago, he said.

-NPR (bold and underline mine)
Cool bro.

Is it just me, or is everyone pretty much going around spouting nonsense?

Things like: "The situation has worsened" and "we are in a better situation".

And: We should give "banks and nonbanks" more capital. "Banks and nonbanks", huh? Is that sort of like 'males and nonmales' or 'everyone under the age of 18, and everyone else', or 'everything that is grilled cheese sandwich and everything that isn't', or 'everyone who is on fire and everyone who is not'?

Doesn't he know that no two people are not on fire? You'd think we'd have learned that by now. It's DeluXx, son. It's not that hard.

Or: Giving them money has "worsened" our situation, so they require "more capital".

Huh.

Look, I don't care what your position is quite as much as I care that you have (a preferably coherent) one and state it plainly.

5 comments:

  1. "...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans a vote next week on the package...."

    "Republicans and President George W. Bush are reluctant to send new money to the carmakers, saying they should instead speed distribution of a $25 billion loan package Congress approved in September to help automakers develop fuel-efficient vehicles."

    -AP

    ReplyDelete
  2. and this.

    so then the federal government will have ownership stakes in pretty much the entire banking industry, and the entire major american auto industry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "The mayors of three large cities - Philadelphia, Atlanta and Phoenix - said Friday that the federal government should use a part of the $700 billion them meet pension costs, make infrastructure investments and deal with severe cash-flow problems stemming from the economic downturn.

    Philadelphia's mayor, Michael Nutter, said he wanted to make sure "cities and metro areas are at the table, that their voices are being heard, that our challenges and problems are well understood, so that we can get relief.""

    -AP

    ReplyDelete

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