Noting that he instinctively shares the optimism that this won't turn into another Great Depression, Atrios writes that his confidence is "largely based on the knowledge that there are smart technocrats who know what they're doing, and not on the reality that while those these people exist they probably aren't actually steering the ship. George Bush, Chris Cox, Dick Cheney, and Henry Paulson are." Putting aside whether Paulson knows what he's doing -- I think he's acquitted himself well thus far -- one of the odd facts about this crisis is that the elected branches of government have been completely cut out of the response. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have not, as far as anyone can tell, been steering the ship. According to The Wall Street Journal, Bush was briefed on the rescue after it was in play. And even then, he was only "briefed." There's been no effort on the part of the White House to even advance the idea that Bush is an engaged participant who's actively signing off on these actions, possibly because suggesting his involvement in a crisis of this complexity would cause the stock market to run and hide in a corner. Congress, too, has been cut totally out of the loop. The AIG bailout -- in fact, all of the bailouts -- have been conceived entirely without their involvement. Indeed, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have been acting, over the course of this crisis, as if they are the sum total of the government. And that may be the correct approach: Neither the president nor the legislative branch possess the expertise or speed to be involved in the real-time crisis management that Bernanke and Paulson are trying to manage. They could, presumably, reverse decisions after the fact or change the contours of the law, but for now, the ship is being steered by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Secretary, and an informal working group of Wall Street CEOs and banking powerhouses. And the government, as we normally think of it, has basically accepted their temporary authority. You've heard of martial law? We're currently in a state of market law.
