Do we really expect "insiders" to fix the problem?

[kentuck]

I am thinking of Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle. Geithner was blind to what was happening with our financial system. As head of the New York Federal Reserve, he was part of the problem. Now we want him to be in charge of the Treasury so we can fix the problem that he was blind to from the beginning? He will make decisions that go against everything he believes in and everything he has experienced for the last 20 years? Is that why he says we may need $2 trillion dollars more to fix the banking system? Sounds like a great idea to me!

And Tom Daschle owed back taxes because he was being chauffered around in a Cadillac paid for by the health insurance industry. He was getting $220,000 salary on top of the chauffered Cadillac. Now, we want him to be in charge of fixing the healthcare problem, because he is so knowledgeable about how it works. Surely he would have no problem doing what was in the interest of the people rather than the insurance industry? Would he?

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. Apparently Obama does.

"Change"? :shrug:

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. When the SEC was formed,

FDR appointed Joseph P. Kennedy as a member and had him made chairman. People were aghast because Kennedy had profited from manipulating stocks. FDR said that something along the lines that you set a thief to catch a thief. He was right, and Kennedy did a very good job. Hope it holds true here with Geithner.

[kentuck]

4. "Hope it holds true here with Geithner."

Hope is all we have, isn't it?

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. At this point,

I think we are running on a hope and a prayer in Obama. If that bubble bursts, we are up the creek.

[kentuck]

9. I agree...

But, are we permitted our opinions?

[BlooInBloo]

3. Obviously we've elected Benedict Obama for President.

[kentuck]

5. Why don't you come out and say what you think....?

Is anyone calling Obama a Benedict Arnold. Did you just pull that out of your ass?

[BlooInBloo]

10. (shrug) You're either calling him that, or an idiot...

But I do apologize for my elliptical remark.

[kentuck]

12. Yeah. You are very good at that.

You cast aspersions and try to make people out to be conspiracists or that they don't support the President or some other nonsense all the time. It gets rather old, quite honestly.

[BlooInBloo]

15. If you want a different response, then say something different.

[kentuck]

18. You can interpret things anyway you like.

I was pointing out facts. You may think these facts don't matter. You might know that these people will cut all ties to their former sugar daddies and only work in the interests of the people? Then again, you might not know jack shit?

[BlooInBloo]

19. Ack, The betrayal.

[Odin2005]

6. FDR picked Joe Kennedy to head the SEC.

JFK's dad was about as insider as you could get back in those days.

[kentuck]

8. Therefore, if A = B..?

then B = C ?

[bread_and_roses]

11. short answer: No

I'll be very happy to be proven wrong, but I don't expect it.

[bobbolink]

17. Excellent reply. That's all we have. The empty work "hope" repeated over and over and over.

And those who don't chant the mantra are excommunicated.

[TZ]

13. Do you really expect people with no experience to solve the problem?

Seriously, I'd rather my economic experts have ectual practice working on economic issues. I'm funny that way.
Of course Obama could just do it the old way and appoint which every crony he likes best..:eyes:

[kentuck]

16. An intelligent person that recognizes the problem and with no inside experience...

would be preferable. Yes. I guess in your world, that would make him or her a "crony"? I love the way some people here make their arguments.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Kinda like hiring the Mafia to audit the books. Or, Boeing to watchdog the Pentagon.

[NNN0LHI]

20. If Obama trusts these guys to initiate his policies thats good enough for me

Don't have much of a choice now anyway. Got to trust someone. And Obama is the one.

Don

[kentuck]

21. I understand that.

And we also have Gates still running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is he the one calling the shots for the drones to bomb Pakistan?

I cannot think of a better person than Barack Obama to be in charge at this time. But, that is no reason for us to stick our heads in the sand. We need to realize that Barack Obama is only one man and that the system is self-fulfilling and needs no direction from any President.

[emulatorloo]

22. Part of Jimmy Carter's problem was he brought in a bunch of NEWBIES who

didn't know Washington and how to get things done.

I know it is fashionable at DU to hate Tom Daschle but he is actually a solid Democrat who has done a lot of thinking about Health Care. He also knows how Washinton works and that is a good thing.

[kentuck]

23. Jimmy Carter came in after Watergate and the Vietnam War.

He did not enter office under the best conditions. There was pent-up inflation from the war. And people were turned off by the criminality of Watergate. Under the circumstances, I would say he did pretty good. Although it is true, he did not have a lot of Washington "insiders" in his Administration. Perhaps he would have been considered a glowing success today if he had taken some of those "experienced" people in Washington to assist him in governing?

[emulatorloo]

25. I agree that he did pretty good. Would he have been more successful with some "old hands"?

Hard to know, but there were some decent Democrats around in the Senate and House.

[alarimer]

24. No they will not.

They will line the pockets of the people they used to work for. We will never see Universal Health Care with Daschle at the helm. He will ensure that his insurance corporation buddies will get a piece of that pie, when the real answer is to get rid of the health insurance industry altogether. THEY are the entire reason we are in this mess with health care.

As for Treasury, well, Geithner is nothing new. It's always been a revolving door with these corporate whores. And it always will be.

[blues90]

26. I'm not sure about anything anymore.

It's all based on one huge maybe. There are many cabinet picks I don't like one bit, many come with baggage we don't even know about so it's all about trust and really this is what it comes down to. When looked at this was based on trust I don't know anyone of these people, never met one or talked to one and if trust is the bottom line then I say who can really trust their own friends or the person at work or down the street. This is what we're being asked to do.

I don't know Obama , I can't find all that much about him no matter what search engine you use.

At this late stage in my life it's like asking me to pick a god and trust that there is a heaven and hell and by doing a certain thing I will end up in one place or the other. That's what it feels like to me at 60. This is not to say Obama is a god or to compare him to one just in case this is how this may look, got to be careful what I say these days.