Geithner's Not Reassuring Anyone

The financial world was desperate for answers yesterday, but what Timothy Geithner delivered “was a work in progress,” says the Washington Post editorial board, “more a concept than a plan, really.” It was like “Geithner at the Improv,” the Wall Street Journal agrees. Markets tanked as investors naturally assumed that “much like Hank Paulson, Mr. Geithner will be making things up as he goes along.”

Some of the ideas Geithner outlined seem sound, the Journal allows, especially the concept of mobilizing private capital. But, the New York Times says, there’s not enough details to fuel a productive debate. Given Geithner’s evasiveness, it’s all too easy to speculate that “the ‘real’ plan is for a big back-door subsidy to banks and private shareholders—at taxpayers’ expense.” (More Timothy Geithner stories.)