Footsteps
A footstep is the sound or mark that is made by someone walking each time their foot touches the ground.Monday, May 14, 2012
- Hank Paulson first stands with Timothy Geithner to bail out Bearn Stearns but then his free-market and conservative root overcomes him and he decides he needs to teach a lesson to Wall Street about moral hazard so the other banks do not think they can be bailed out too. As Lehman Brothers marches towards its collapse, he summons the heads of big banks and tells them that the government will not raise a finger if Lehman Brothers collapses and it is them who should save the bank. This is all good in theory. The only problem is that Paulson has totally underestimated the depth of the financial crisis and has chosen the worst time for teaching a lesson to Wall Street. The next day, Lehman Brothers goes underwater and the financial crisis goes out of hand. Ironically, a week later, the government ultimately has to inject a lot more money to the financial system with very little time to think through the details.
- As words spread about the financial crisis, John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, suddenly announces that he stops his campaign and will go back to Washington to join the forces for dealing with the financial crisis. Again, such a big move is justifiable only if McCain was actually good at what he intended to do. The next day, a well-publicized meeting is held in the White House with McCain, Obama, the leadership of the Congress and the architects of the bail-out package in attendance. One expects McCain to be the most prepared person for this meeting. On the contrary, when Obama asks McCain to outline his ideas for dealing with the financial crisis, McCain so badly fumbles through a list of ideas that, according to one witness, Bush turns to Pelosi and quietly tells her that "Soon you will miss me!"
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