WSJ: Treasury's Stress Test Results 'Negotiated' -- Not To Mention Arb

May 10th, 2009 11:26 AM
It's a whole new wrinkle on the old joke about accountants (when asked what 2 + 2 is, he or she replies, "What do you want it to be?"). The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the reported results of the financial institution stress tests were negotiated: Banks Won Concessions on Tests Fed Cut Billions Off Some Initial Capital-Shortfall Estimates; Tempers Flare at Wells The Federal…

Will Media See Irony in Geithner Introducing Tax Law Reforms

May 4th, 2009 12:25 PM
On Monday, the Obama administration announced a plan to cut down on tax evasion by companies employing overseas workers, and with seeming disregard to the obvious hypocrisy, let Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- who has tax problems of his own! -- introduce the President to provide the details.I kid you not! When media outlets report this announcement and the proposed reforms to the tax code…

NYT: 'Surgical' GM Bankruptcy Would Leave $70 Billion or more in Taxpa

April 14th, 2009 1:11 PM
Here's a Tea Party Wednesday engine-starter, so to speak. This past week, while much the world focused on the terrorists in training euphemistically known as "pirates," and the more religious among us attended Holy Week services and celebrated the Resurrection, bean counters and government bureaucrats were trying to figure out just how much a bankruptcy at General Motors could cost the treasury…

AP Decides March Deficit Is More Important Than Year-To-Date, Claims

April 11th, 2009 10:12 AM
I got this e-mail yesterday from CNN shortly after Uncle Sam's Monthly Treasury Statement for March was released: That was indeed a serious piece of news. Only halfway through the year, the federal government's deficit for fiscal 2009 is already larger by far than any previous year's deficit. So I was curious to see how the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger might work this story to minimize…

Cramer Declares End of 'Depression'; Credits Obama's Rhetoric, not Act

April 3rd, 2009 3:15 PM
It came and went - and some might not have even noticed it - despite the seriousness of its use. On April 2, CNBC's Jim Cramer proclaimed the Depression over. Throughout that day, the "Mad Money" host told viewers of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," CNBC's "Street Signs" and finally on his own program that the Depression was over and that we were on the verge of a bull run for the financial markets. "We…

WaPo Collaborates on Front Page Piece With Far-left ProPublica

April 3rd, 2009 11:55 AM
The Washington Post published an extensive investigative piece about Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Friday which was a collaboration with the far-left media outlet ProPublica (h/t Carter Wood).As NewsBusters executive editor Matt Sheffield and I reported last September, ProPublica was founded by Herb and Marion Sandler, the California billionaires that have contributed millions to liberal…

Frank-ly Control Freaks: Congressional Committee Passes Bill Controlli

March 31st, 2009 12:34 PM
Is it okay to call them socialists yet? (/sarc)And to think we were "only" worried about having a known Tax Cheat overseeing everyone's taxes.With Barney Frank's help, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is trying to expand his power (and by inference that of his Dear Leader boss) well beyond that. The "Pay for Performance Act," which has already gotten out of committee, would give him veto power…

The Biz Flog Takes on Tim Geithner's Power Grab

March 27th, 2009 7:26 PM

Stocks Soar and Plunge, But Couric Always Upbeat About Obama's Efforts

March 23rd, 2009 10:16 PM
On Monday night, Katie Couric teased the CBS Evening News by trumpeting how “the stock market soars as the Treasury rolls out a new plan to rescue America's banks,” and then leading: “The Treasury put out the details today of a plan to rescue America's banks and Wall Street responded with two thumbs up and a triple-digit rally.” Six weeks ago, however, when the Dow plunged 382 points in reaction…

Krugman Criticizes Obama, Hell Freezes Over

March 21st, 2009 3:34 PM
Mark March 21, 2009, as the day pigs flew and hell froze over: the shamelessly liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman actually criticized the Obama administration.I kid you not.Unfortunately, he did so at his blog at the New York Times website, which means far fewer people will see his critique than if it had been published in print.But as it seems foolish to look a gift horse in the mouth…

Kudlow Warns Obama Treasury Secretary Geithner's 'Days May Be Numbered

March 17th, 2009 9:23 PM
Is President Barack Obama's administration showing hints it is losing confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner? CNBC's Larry Kudlow said the signs are suggesting as much. The host of "The Kudlow Report" said in an appearance with CNBC On-Air Editor Charlie Gasparino on his March 17 broadcast that a statement put out earlier today by the administration, and placed at the top of the…

Camille Paglia Tells Drunken White House Frat Boys to Lay Off Rush

March 10th, 2009 10:41 PM
"The orchestrated attack on radio host Rush Limbaugh...has made the White House look like an oafish bunch of drunken frat boys."So wrote Camille Paglia in another marvelous column published at Salon moments ago.In her most recent installment, Paglia expressed increasing disappointment with Barack Obama who she believes has been "ill-served by his advisors and staff" that "have all been blindsided…

Reich: Obama Critics Stoking 'Angry Right-wing Populism

March 7th, 2009 6:19 PM
On Friday, NewsBusters asked, "When Will Media Blame Economy and Bear Market on Obama?"Don't expect Bill Clinton's former labor secretary Robert Reich to ever do so, for in an article published at Salon Thursday, the UC-Berkeley professor claimed "every major policy that led to this collapse occurred under George W.'s watch."Not only that, but the man who recently told Congress that jobs created…

Cramer: 'This is the Greatest Wealth Destruction by a President

March 3rd, 2009 5:54 PM
Although an admitted Barack Obama supporter during last year's campaign, CNBC's Jim Cramer has certainly changed his view concerning our 44th president.On Tuesday's "Today" show, the outspoken "Mad Money" host said: we have "an agenda in this country now that I would regard as being a radical agenda";  Obama's just announced budget "put a level of fear in this country that I have not seen ever in…