Incompetent Tax Cheat Confirmed as Treasury Secretary

Continuing in the “what’s good for thee is not good for me” philosophy of Democratic politicians, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. According to the Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. Senate confirmed Timothy Geithner as President Barack Obama’s Treasury secretary by a 60-34 vote, paving the way for the new administration to usher in its financial-rescue plan.

So what if he forgot to pay his taxes four years in a row! So what if he received reimbursement for those unpaid taxes! He’s too big to fail. This is just another example of Democrats being above the law.

And the so-called “rescue plan” isn’t without pitfalls and enormous risk.

Under the bad-bank plan, the government would create an entity to purchase assets, possibly using money from the $350 billion remaining in the Troubled Asset Relief Program and having the entity raise money by selling government-backed securities.

The concept is rife with problems, including what price the government should pay. If the government pays too low a price, banks may have to take deeper write-downs than they have already, exacerbating their financial woes. But if the prices are too high, then banks — and their shareholders — are benefiting at taxpayer expense.

The administration is also planning additional capital injections, which it views as necessary to restart the market for lending. But that, too, raises concerns given the low stock price of the banks and their capital needs. Read full story.

A new website’s been created where you can Read the Stimulus. It’s chock full of pork and longer than Atlas Shrugged, which I suppose is fitting since the novel has turned into reality.

Update: Click here for the roll call. Senator McCain (along with 33 others) voted against Geithner!