House Attacks Fed, Treasury

Actually some on House panel, not the House itself, attacked the Fed and the Treasury.

At the Joint Economic Committee, a couple of House Republicans called for the resignation of Mr. Geithner, who, as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, played a major role in last fall's moves to prevent the collapse of the financial system. "The public has lost all confidence in your ability to do the job," said Rep. Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas.

The public? Who the hell is the public? I'm part of the public, and I haven't lost confidence in Secretary Geithner. I have a lot of confidence in him. Whom I don't have confidence in is a Representative who thinks that by grandstanding and demagoguery he can strongarm fiscal policy.

Mr. Geithner, in an unusual public display of pique, fired back. "What I can't take responsibility is for the legacy of crises you've bequeathed this country," he told Mr. Brady.

Exactly. While Geithner is not perfect, by any means, he is dealing with the mess left by the tram of Bush and Greenspan, the most severe economic crisis in three quarters of a century.

Although several Democrats defended Mr. Geithner at the hearing, some liberal Democrats have been complaining that the Obama administration isn't doing enough to combat unemployment. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.) called on Mr. Geithner to resign this week, and said in an interview that Mr. Geithner is too close to Wall Street.

Whom would he have? Paulson?

Treasury chief Geithner faced a House Republican who told him, 'The public has lost all confidence in your ability to do the job.' He shot back: 'What I can't take responsibility is for the legacy of crises you've bequeathed this country.'

You go, Timothy.

The House Financial Services Committee voted, 43-26, to approve a measure sponsored by Texas Republican Ron Paul, vociferously opposed by the Fed, that would direct the congressional Government Accountability Office to expand its audits of the Fed to include decisions about interest rates and lending to individual banks. The Fed says the provision threatens its ability to make monetary policy without political interference.

43 plus 26 means there are 69 members in the committee. What in hell could 69 politicians possibly get done? Less than nothing is what.