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No Time to Waste . . .

Monday, October 13, 2008 | 02:30 PM

in Bailouts | Credit | Derivatives | Federal Reserve | Taxes and Policy

Via Kate Wellings commentary at Weedon comes this delightful skewering of Hank Paulson's understanding of the housing, market and credit crisis much earlier in its development:

"In short, any jot of credibility that the Secretary may have had surely cannot withstand this inarguable evidence of aberrant thinking; the inconsistency alone is staggering. These quips run the full gamut from puerile denial to deliberate understatement to bald-faced demagoguery, right on down to yesterday's call for patience. Suffocated by his unabashed, unprincipled and incessant manure-spreading, I honestly wonder how the heck it is that we are not on the WH lawn . right this instant . pitchforks in hand.

April 20, 2007: 'I don't see (subprime mortgage market troubles) imposing a serious problem. I think it's going to be largely contained.'

http://www.reuters.com/article/gc06/idUSWBT00686520070420

July 12, 2007: 'This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime.'

http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/18/news/economy/powerplay_economy.fortune/index.htm

August 1, 2007: 'The market has focused on this. There's a wake-up call, and there's an adjustment to this repricing of risk, but I see the underlying economy as being very healthy.'

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSBJC00005820070801

February 28, 2008: 'I'm seeing a series of ideas suggested involving major government intervention in the housing market and these things are usually presented or sold as a way of helping homeowners stay in their homes. Then when you look at them more carefully what they really amount to is a bailout for financial institutions or Wall Street.' http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/02/28/

March 16, 2008: 'We've got strong financial institutions . . . Our markets are the envy of the world. They're resilient, they're...innovative, they're flexible. I think we move very quickly to address situations in this country, and, as I said, our financial institutions are strong.'

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/secretary_paulson_on_fox_news.html

May 7, 2008: 'The worst is likely to be behind us. .There's no doubt that things feel better today, by alot, than they did in March.' http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/05/07/afx4978703.html

May 16, 2008: 'The fiscal stimulus will provide support to the economy as we weather the housing correction, capital markets turmoil and higher energy and food prices. .Although we are still working through housing and capital markets issues, and expect to be doing so for some time, we also expect to see a faster pace of economic growth before the end of the year. .In my judgment, we are closer to the end of the market turmoil than the beginning. Looking forward, I expect that financial markets will be driven less by the recent turmoil and more by broader economic conditions and, specifically, by the recovery of the housing sector.'

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/16/business/main4103698.shtml

July 15, 2008: 'If you've got a squirt gun in your pocket, you may have to take it out. - If you've got a bazooka, and people know you've got it...you're not likely to take it out.'

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/07/16/henry-paulson-s-bazookanomics.aspx

July 20, 2008: 'I think it's going to be months that we're working our way through this period, clearly months. .Of course the list [of difficulties] is going to grow longer given the stresses we have in the marketplace, given the housing correction - but again, it's a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation.' http://cbs5.com/national/henry.paulson.economy.2.775329.html

August 10, 2008: 'We have no plans to insert money into either of those two institutions [FNM and FRE].'

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aULVZ2mAF9es&

September 7, 2008: 'In July, Congress granted the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and FHFA new authorities with respect to the GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Since that time, we have closely monitored financial market and business conditions and have analyzed in great detail the current financial condition of the GSEs - including the ability of the GSEs to weather a variety of market conditions going forward. As a result of this work, we have determined that it is necessary to take action. . Based on what we have learned about these institutions over the last four weeks - including what we learned about their capital requirements - and given the condition of financial markets today, I concluded that it would not have been in the best interest of the taxpayers for Treasury to simply make an equity investment in these enterprises in their current form.' .

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp1129.htm

September 15, 2008: 'Moral hazard is something I don't take lightly. . I never once considered that it was appropriate to put taxpayer money on the line in resolving Lehman Brothers.'

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/15/business/NA-US-Paulson-Markets.php

September 19, 2008: 'We're talking hundreds of billions of dollars - this needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get at the heart of the problem. This is the way we stabilize the system. . If these efforts result in a net cost to the taxpayer, it's a better bet than the alternative. . I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative - a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion.' .

http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/19/news/economy/paulson_plan_cost/index.htm

September 23, 2008: 'We need to work as quickly as possible; we need to get something done. We believe that our plan, and the plan that we developed with congressional leaders and worked so hard, is a plan that works. And we need a plan that works.' .

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arQOMRk_d_s0&

October 8, 2008: 'We have no time to waste in implementing the new law. . One thing we must recognize - even with the new Treasury authorities, some financial institutions will fail. . But patience is also needed because the turmoil will not end quickly and significant challenges remain ahead. . Neither passage of this new law nor the implementation of these initiatives will bring an immediate end to current difficulties.' ."

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1189.htm

Source:
Welling @ Weedon
Oct. 9, 2008
http://welling.weedenco.com/index.cfm?act=Newsletter.cfm&category=acuteobservations&newsletterid=3314&menugroup=Home