If he didn't, he should have, because it is not journalism. Let's start with the real world. The economy is in horrible shape. The Congressional Budget Office projects that unemployment will continue to rise through the rest of the year and will average 10.2 percent in 2010. This is higher than at any time since the Great Depression. We are seeing foreclosures at a rate of more than 2 million a year. Prior to last fall, it would have been difficult to imagine a worse situation. It is true, that this is not the Great Depression, but that is about all that the Geithner-Summers team can claim for their economic track record. Yet, the NYT is singing Geithner's praises as though he won the New York marathon. At one point it refers to Geithner's plan for buying bad assets for banks, which involved large taxpayer subsidies for some of the richest people in the country. It tells readers that: "As it happened, the toxic asset plan’s signal contribution was the announcement itself; the increase in market confidence it engendered all but obviated the need for financial institutions to use it." That's a fascinating view. it would be interesting to know the basis for this assertion or if anyone other than the NYT shares this view. This piece of Geithner worship has no place in a serious newspaper.
--Dean Baker
