Bernanke and Geithner, Two Pea[brains] in a Pod

Maybe I missed the joke. Can somebody, anybody, explain how these people continue to be taken seriously? (Don’t answer that. I’m being rhetorical, or facetious, or maybe both.)

From “The Wall Street Journal Europe,” Michael R. Crittenden and Maya Jackson Randall report:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told House lawmakers that the government’s experience with American International Group Inc. highlights the need to deal with increasingly complex and systemically important institutions.

The article continues with this money-quote from Bernanke, “If a federal agency had had such tools on Sept. 16, they could have been used to put AIG into conservatorship or receivership, unwind it slowly, protect policyholders, and impose haircuts on creditors and counterparties as appropriate.”

Maybe I’m overly squeamish, but when I hear these guys use terms like “unwind it slowly” or “protect policyholders,” I get hives in places not mentionable in polite company. These are duly-appointed representatives of the same gubmint that couldn’t get water to Katrina survivors many days after the storm ended. Now these rocket-science-rejects are capable of dealing with increasingly complex financial crises? (Let’s not forget that these crises were caused by the State.) Puh-lease.

Stay tuned! Up next: Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin will be testifying before Congress on how they plan to revive NASA and put a colony on the Moon, all under budget and ahead of schedule.

Update: Here’s another source on Geithner’s desire for power.

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6:38 pm on March 25, 2009