Geithner: Things Could Get Worse Before They Get Better
On the same day that he author’s a New York Times Op-Ed titled Welcome To The Recovery, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is saying that the employment situation could get worse before it gets better:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged that it is still a “tough economy” for most Americans, and warned it’s possible the unemployment rate will go up for a couple of months before it comes down as more people enter the labor force.
“When they see a little hope that there may be jobs out there, they start to come back in again. And that can cause the measured unemployment rate to go up temporarily,” Geithner told “Good Morning America’s” George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview. “But what we expect to see, and I think most forecasters expect this&is an economy that’s gradually healing, gradually strengthening, businesses starting to add people back.”
The economy is not rebounding as quickly as Geithner and the Obama administration would like, he said.
Indeed not. And Geithner’s admission seems to be acknowledgment that it won’t happen any time soon, either. Surely not in time to have an impact on the elections.
I thought his op-ed was overly cheery if anything. The “green shoots” he cites are nearly all within the margin of error and most trends are down. Worst, despite the passage of financial reform virtually all of the problems that produced the financial crisis are still in place.
Worst, despite the passage of financial reform virtually all of the problems that produced the financial crisis are still in place.
Obama’s financial reform was not about financial reform. As you have pointed out, it does little to actually address the issues and root causes, whether they are real or simply perceived problems. The same goes for the lending guidelines for home purchases; the same old qualification criteria and low-income quotas are being used that got us into this mess.
So, the question is, if not about fixing the problem, then what is the legislation for? The 2300 pages that no one has read through? Isn’t the situation devolving towards the plotline of a really, really bad novel? Let us hope it doesn’t turn into a Greek tragedy.