Barry Ritholtz has only just now realized that people don’t suddenly change what they’ve been doing for the last ten years just because their job titles have changed:
Consider this statement from Geithner, who said that Treasury is considering a “range of options†for its financial rescue plan, with the goal of preserving the private banking system. “We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we’d like to do our best to preserve that system.â€
No! Defending these idiots was your old gig. In the new job, you no longer work for the cretins responsible for bringing down the global economy. Please stop rationalizing their behavior, and preserving the status quo!
This is just another iteration of the experience conundrum. If you don’t get people with experience, they may not know what they’re doing and you’ll get criticized for it. If you do get people with experience, they’re bound to keep doing what they’ve been doing. It’s been successful for them so far, hasn’t it?
Moral hazard. It apparently doesn’t apply to Secretaries of the Treasury any more than it does to banks. Whatever his qualifications Mr. Geithner was one of the people who got us in to our current fix.
heh
Its not that I just realized it — its that I just noticed the damage it is potnetially causing in the bailout via the new Treasury Secretary.
Thanks for dropping by, Barry. Love your stuff.