I initially warned you about a propaganda blitz coming from government officials and our co-opted media in The Coming Propaganda Blitz (December 27, 2010). Yesterday afforded us an excellent example of how this campaign works. Bloomberg duly reported on the remarks of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a Bloomberg Breakfast with reporters in Washington.
The U.S. financial system is in better shape than it was before the recession and is well placed to provide the funding needed for the economic expansion, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said.
“The core of the American financial system is in a much stronger position than it was before the crisis,” Geithner said today during a Bloomberg Breakfast with reporters in Washington.
U.S. banks had net income of $87.5 billion in 2010, the highest since 2007, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said today. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has jumped 64 percent since March 2009, and corporate bond spreads have narrowed.
“We can say with much more confidence now that the U.S. banking system and the U.S. capital market are much more likely to be in a position to finance the capital needs that come with a recovery,” Geithner said.
The world’s largest economy is projected to grow 3.2 percent in 2011, the most since 2004, according to the median forecast of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8
As Henry Blodget and Aaron Task point out in the Tech Ticker video below, every policy the Obama administration pushed over the last 2 years was designed to throw money at the the banking system. Now that the banks are fat again, it's time for over-leveraged American "consumers" and small businesses to line up for new loans so they can get even deeper in debt. Of course, they can't get those loans because credit is tighter than George Will's asshole, or they don't qualify for credit because they've got too little income or too much debt already.
And with home prices plunging again, now is an especially good time to burden yourself with a long-term mortgage. As you sign on the dotted line—let's assume a miracle occurred and you were able to get a loan—you might also ask yourself whether those massive interest payments will be tax deductible in the future.
This would be a good time for you to read Inequality, Debt And The Financial Crisis if you have not already done so. Or even you have. And what about those soaring oil prices? Not to worry!
Geithner played down concerns that the surge in oil prices will derail the U.S. recovery. “By almost any measure you look at, the economy is gradually getting stronger,” he said.
Crude for April delivery traded up 2.8 percent to settle at $98.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as Libya's uprising threatened to disrupt oil exports. Earlier, it touched $100, the highest level since Oct. 2, 2008. Futures are up 24 percent from a year ago.
But never mind those seventeen insurmountable crises besetting the Empire. All is well because the financial system is stronger than ever before, according to our estimable Secretary of the Treasury. But perhaps we shouldn't blame this mediocre, brown-nosing servant of Big Finance for the sorry state of the economy. As head of the New York Fed, perhaps he just forgot to regulate those Wall Street Banks.
Perhaps the man who appointed him should shoulder the blame—Mr. Change We Can Believe In.
Here's the video.
Will the miracles never cease.
I was under the impression NOTHING is tighter than George Will's asshole!
Those nasty housing prices are down again and the foreclosure noose gets tighter each day.
No credit, no job, no collective bargaining, 10 year wars, tax cuts. Doing a great job out there.
Posted by: BS | 02/25/2011 at 10:28 AM