A welcome step
Kudos to President Elect Obama (or to Rahm Emmanuel?) for doing something. He smartly designates an non-partisan to head Treasury, and the markets go bonkers in a good way. I’m not sure how he found someone that wasn’t connected somehow to ACORN, CRA, Fannie or Freddie, but he got him, and it’s a good choice. Let’s hope that today’s late day market swing excites foreign exchanges and carries some momentum through to Monday.
The market has tanked big since the election, partially because the bailout seems misapplied and ill-designed and partially because an absent President Bush seems unintereste– wait a minute. Nobody really cares what the president thinks anyway, no matter how much fake “one president at a time” chivalry we’re fed. The most significant factor is the legitimate fear businesses have had of some of Obama’s campaign proposals that, within the last two weeks, have been quietly yanked from public discourse by a Transition team already peddling lower expectations to the 52.7% crowd. “Right here, right now” has become “not here right now.”
Today’s selection of Geithner goes a long way to easing some market anxiety, but what would really help the market find sure footing is a continued embargo of the anti-business rhetoric that dominated the campaign.
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