oldasiahand

Obama's Big Win at G20: Europeans Lose Control of IMF

Simon is spot on. Obama did a good job playing with a weak hand. Opening up the top jobs at the IMF and the World Bank to merit based rather than narrow political candidates can only be to the good. No more neocons like Wolfowitz automatically being parachuted in. But the increase in resources to both institutions and the creation of more SDRs should marginally help the present global downturn as the money printing finds a brand new mechanism.

Replacing Geithner

Look Geithner will not be easy to get rid of, he and Obama go back to when they were kids in Jakarta. Obama's mother worked for Geithner's father at the Ford Foundation. Admittedly Geithner went to a better school there.

a banker would not be acceptable as Treasury Sec right now. It was Rubin (and Greenspan) who got us in the soup.Rubin by abolishing Glass Steagall and then going to rape Citibank for his personal gain. Greenspan for being a dolt and not understanding the destructive power of derivatives and refusing to regulate those OTC, the most toxic variety.

As for Dimon and JPM, give me a break! JPM has $300 trillion, that's trillion with a t, worth of derivatives on its books, a third of the world's outstanding derivs. US GDP is a mere $14 trillion. They could yet need a bailout!

The Zweig Method: 10 Growth Investments for a Tough Market

Is Marty still around? I met him once at his office in 1994 or 4. he was having a bad day over an imminent divorce but still a star.