“Given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke, I have asked my economic team to refrain from presenting a more detailed blue-print of how an immediate plan might be structured until the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have had an opportunity to present their proposal.” Obama said it was critical that the markets and public have confidence in the Fed and Treasury’s efforts and that their work be “unimpeded by partisan wrangling.”
I’ll give credit to Obama — the markets need conficence in the Treasury and Fed right now. That’s the right thing to do. Harry Reid, on the other hand, should probably be called out for his recent statements on the matter. From Market News International:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson are trying to take steps to stabilize the global financial system, but do not appear to have a coherent strategy.
“They don’t know what to do,” Reid said at a briefing in which he described his meeting with Bernanke and Paulson Tuesday evening.
They don’t know what to do?! Even if that were true — and I suspect Paulson and Bernanke beg to differ — the idea that the Senate majority leader would undermine market confidence by walking out of a private meeting with them and saying, “yup, they’re clueless!” is either dumb or recklessly undermining market confidence to score partisan points.
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