Well, THAT Didn’t Take Long
I’m not speaking of the resignation of John Snow as Treasury Secretary – that’s been rumored for months. What is surprising is that Bush already has tapped a replacement:
Treasury Secretary John Snow resigned Tuesday and President Bush nominated Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry M. Paulson Jr. as his replacement — another chapter in the shake-up to revive Bush’s troubled presidency.
“He has a lifetime of business experience. He has intimate knowledge of financial markets and an ability to explain economic issues in clear terms,” Bush said of Paulson in a Rose Garden announcement.
He praised Snow for showing “strong leadership” at Treasury.
Snow, the former head of railroad giant CSX Corp. who has a Ph.D. in economics, has been Treasury secretary since February 2003. His departure has been rumored for more than a year.
Paulson has been chairman of Goldman Sachs for about eight years. It is considered one of the premier financial firms on Wall Street and has sent a number of its top executives to high positions in Washington.
Robert Rubin, one of Paulson’s predecessors, served as Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, and Jon Corzine, another Goldman Sachs chairman, served as a U.S. senator from New Jersey and is now governor of that state.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he talked to Paulson on Tuesday morning and praised Bush’s selection to be the new Treasury secretary.
“His experience, intelligence and deep understanding of national and global economic issues make him the best pick America could have hoped for,” Schumer said. The senator said he would support the nomination.
Welcoming Paulson to the Cabinet, Bush praised the economy under his own watch. “The American economy is powerful, productive and prosperous, and I look forward to working with Hank Paulson to keep it that way.”
Powerful, productive, and prosperous – I like that. There’s your mantra, congressional Republicans. Now go forth and multiply…
Well, as a dem, I must say – Bush seems to have finally done something smart. I especially like the fact that Paulson is the chairman of the Nature Conservancy, and a strong supporter of the Kyoto process. Now if only Bush will let him do his job…
Powerful, productive, and prosperous …provided you have a job, gas prices haven’t driven you to bankruptcy, your house is a fixed rate mortgage, and that the falling value of the dollar and stagnating wages haven’t affected you.
In other words if you are an oil company exec or the heir to a wealthy family you are set.
If your house isn’t a fixed rate mortgage, whose fault is that? Variable rate mortgages are a financial product with a ton of risk…
Come on, give me a source for your stories of people being driven bankrupt by the gas prices…
When we talk about the economy, intelligently, we must talk about it as a whole (on the macro level) – there will always be individual tales of woe. Life is full of tragedy, and that has nothing to do with anything we’re talking about here…
What was the GOP mantra in ’98 and 2000? Oh, that’s right, “elected officials have absolutely nothing to do with the performance of the economy” (paraphrased, obvs). So waht changed in 6 years? Still waiting for my tax cut, BTW… and to be making what I was in 2000…
Well, I don’t take any delight in your pain, and I wish you well – it’s funny that you call the GOP hypocrites for not giving Clinton credit for the late 90′s economy…or do you in fact give Bush credit for the strong economy now?…
as “…powerful, productive, and prosperous…” as any ohter house of cards i suppose. i’m glad i don’t have any offspring…i don’t have to worry about them paying for this administrations incompetence.
Let’s see: I have a job, gas prices haven’t driven me to bankruptcy, I’ve got a fixed-rate mortgage, and while I’d prefer everything to be cheaper in life, the value of the dollar and my wages haven’t caused any great pains.
I guess I must be an oil company exec/heir to a big fortune! Strange how no one ever told me this before.
I can’t help but feel I’ve heard this song before. When the economy did well under Reagan, it was all a canard. When it did well under Clinton, it was his brilliant stewardship. Now that it’s doing well under Bush, it’s all a canard again…
“i’m glad i don’t have any offspring…”
…and all humanity is quite thankful for that development. Please don’t pollute the gene pool in the future – promise?
“Still waiting for my tax cut, BTW…”
I believe you actually have to perform a paying job in order to receive a tax cut.
.”..as any ohter house of cards i suppose.”
Perhaps you should ask for a refund for your years in public school – at least for the grammar and English classes.
dmac is funny!
But if you really want to laugh go checkout who uttered the “powerful, productive and prosperous” quote.
You’ll laugh so hard you’ll cry!!
Well, Robert, your punch line is a bit off target…it’s Bush, and it’s right there in the damn post! You really got me…
This feeble uptick in the economy, after five years of The Bush Crime Family, was put on a charge card. Heck, I could have done that.
They fail at everything except filling the trough for the Greedy Old Pigs.
The feeble uptick? 5.3% GNP growth in a mature economy?
But then, you’re not so good with the numbers, I bet…
“They fail at everything except filling the trough for the Greedy Old Pigs.”
You can actually visualize the commenter here typing furiously away at his keyboard, surrounded by the SuperSize Mountain Dew and Hefty Bag of Lay’s Chips he got from his 7 – 11, accompanied by copious amounts of heavy mouth – breathing.
Yes, while simultaneously watching a rerun of ‘Saved By The Bell’ while muttering “Worst…episode…ever!”…
Heh.
Dow Jones Industrial Average when GW Bush took the oath of office January 2001= 10650
Dow Jones Industrial today = 11168
What is this, around 6%? Pathetic. How inconvenient the facts are for the Bushies.
Actually, I have an MBA and am eating a salad.
6% growth over five years is indeed pathetic. Nothing Bush has done has been good for this country as a nation.
Wow, nothing at all? Well, at least you’re open-minded – for a minute there, I thought you suffered from BDS…
Um, John Q. American – the DJIA doesn’t measure GDP growth – sorry to disappoint you.
Should I suggest a remedial finance course for you, or would you prefer to google your own?…
Are you calculating GDP in base dollars? also GDP is extremely misleading, considering that government spending is a component and we don’t need any training to know that Bush has blown the doors off in government spending
Perhaps you need a remedial course in Econ 101 -
I don’t intend to get in an insult match with you – you keep believing the economy is bad if it makes you feel better, but the truth is that in 2000 dollars, the economy was $9.87 trillion dollars when Bush took office in Q1/2001. The GDP is currently at $11.4 trillion dollars, again in 2000 dollars – I did the math myself – that’s an increase of 13.33% in the 5 years since Bush took office – not great for the whole period (less than 3% annually), not bad either, but currently on an upward trend, and notice I didn’t weasel out and exclude the recession he inherited from Clinton when the NASDAQ bubble burst….
Here’s the source…
“Actually, I have an MBA and am eating a salad…”
Guess that proves that it definitely isn’t “brain food” that you’re currently consuming.
“John Q American”
This is supposed to be clever, yes? OK, let’s all play the game here – my name is Captain Avenger, and I dub thee Retardo Montalban, for the complete lack of any objective sources to prove your arguments.