Obama = Carter?

Paul Krugman again right on the mark. Amazing to me how badly handled the response to the financial crisis was by the Obama people: from hiring Geitner as the Treasury boss, to the inability to claw back the executive bonuses of bailed out banks and AIG, to the tepid reform proposals.

Forget the economy or the stimulus or health care. It was the actions (or inactions) in the financial arena were the proxy by which people judged (and became enraged) by Obamanomics. Where the people demanded a populist, they got a go along, to get along with Wall Street President. And a Wall Street President who Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley presidents felt free to snub during a White House meeting.

Sadly and in typical Democratic fashion, Obama and his party get it too late. Thus, now we get angry talk about Wall Street "fat cats" and a tax on TARP banks which are meaningless and after the fact. Oh that the White House had sought to institute real reform and extract their pound of Wall Street flesh back in March when the federal government had Wall Street under its thumb. By now, it's back to business as usual.

Forget about the TARP tax, how about forcing GS and MS out of bank holding company status and stopping the federal back stopping of their loans and assets.