Ms. Bair has stood out within the Bush administration as being hands-on and decisive in handling the crisis - she deserves credit as the only senior figure. The role of Mr. Paulson is obscure to put it into diplomatic terms, as he brings on plenty Goldman personnel (conflict of interest can not get any more obvious) with a poor performance for the USA but quite some advantages for the mothership Goldman. Bernanke is totally in the wrong seat, to much of an academic and to dependent on Paulson - he looks like his master puppet and has not proven any wisdom in his calls on the development of the economy, nor the will and drive to deal with it. He has not the guts to stand up against Paulson as Ms. Bair does, as she addresses the problem at the core point. Any more foreclosures pushes the economy into depression and that is a source that the firefighters should concentrate on. Not a single measure of Paulson/Bernanke has been helpful or thoughtful and always behind the curve -basically they need to be fired. Any coach of any junior league team would have been fired with such a poor performance.
Secondly, the deep webbing of Goldman and the US administration has to be spun off right away, since evidently no good came from that joint. President Bush is the one who appointed those gentlemen and the way he deals with the overall situation is beyond any comment. Buy announcing Ms. Bair into the role of Chairwoman or Secretary, I am sure that would support markets substantially but more importantly get the resources to the right spot and help to save what is left to save.
Excerpt from WSJ:
WASHINGTON -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair on Wednesday criticized the federal government for failing to take more aggressive steps to prevent Americans from losing their homes, highlighting a rift between her and other senior U.S. officials over terms of the $700 billion rescue package.
The government plan will help stabilize financial markets but it doesn't do enough to address home foreclosures, the root of the crisis, she said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
"Why there's been such a political focus on making sure we're not unduly helping borrowers but then we're providing all this massive assistance at the institutional level, I don't understand it," she said. "It's been a frustration for me."
Ms. Bair didn't single out government officials or leaders, but her criticisms brushed on decisions made by both the Bush administration and Congress. For example, she described painstaking efforts made by lawmakers in crafting the federal Hope for Homeowners program to make sure it limited resale profits for borrowers who received affordable home loans.
Ms. Bair, who was nominated by the White House and confirmed by the Senate in 2006, has frequently said government and industry efforts to prevent foreclosures aren't effective enough. She has long defended her focus on consumer protection as an important role for the FDIC, which is charged with protecting bank deposits.
Her comments Wednesday came amid growing tensions with key figures in resolving the financial crisis, notably Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, according to people familiar with the matter.
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