Geithner

As we made our way through today's WSJ, we came across the opinion article title, Dodd-Frank Has Made Our Banks Stronger. (The title of the online version: Geithner: A Dodd-Frank Retreat Deserves a Veto).

This is definitely not something we expect to see in the Journal, so we go next to the by line. Timothy Geithner. Oh, ok.

Our first thought: Buy gold. Today.

Our second thought: Time for a new post at Ushanka.us.

The president did not want the new rules [Dodd-Frank Reform] to end up being written by those who brought us to the edge of catastrophic financial failure.

Yet that is exactly who did write it. It was Dodd-Frank who forced Fannie Mae and other GSE's to guarantee bad (subprime) loans that then led to endless taxpayer bailouts.

By almost any measure, the U.S. financial system is in much stronger shape, not just relative to the depth of the crisis but also relative to conditions that prevailed before it hit.

Tell that to the unemployed who are seeing an end to their 99-week benefits and are unable to find a job.

All financial crises are caused by too much leverage, and by reducing leverage, we have taken the most important step toward diminishing the risk of future crises. We have forced the largest financial institutions to take less risk and to hold much stronger financial cushions against the commitments they make.

In other words, the US government have taken control of private enterprises and restricted their ability to maximize profits for their shareholders. That includes hiring people to staff a new market opportunity or improve efficiencies. Watch for higher bank fees as the banks turn on their customers to make up the difference. Why? Because in the end, the shareholder always comes first.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has already proposed new ways to simplify disclosure of mortgage and credit-card loans so that consumers can shop for the best terms and be protected from abusive and predatory practices.

Ever heard of Yahoo? I can go there and in 3 minutes find the best mortgage rate available in my area. This isn't groundbreaking - Yahoo in fact is dying a slow death as these innovations are so two-decades ago. Yet our Treasury Secretary brags as if this is the latest thing much like Stalin bragged of his White Sea Canal - a worthless canal so shallow only siteseeing boats could use it.

Anybody else suffer from involuntary eye-rolling when someone who's made a living of taking from others claims credit for producing something?

We are implementing reform quickly but carefully, and we are taking public input at each step of the way.

Input on another force-fed bill which had only 6 Republicans votes? Really? Is his door open to all? Is he willing to consider all options?

Liberals publishing in the WSJ are similar to liberals who hang out around conservatives. They have zero earned credibility, so they play their only card: osmosis.