Ratko and Skip and Hank

To answer a question I asked last week: 2004, Serbia stopped paying Ratko Mladic’s pension in 2004. He wants it reinstated.

Mladic’s son is named Darko. It’s like that family wants to turn out generation after generation of Bond villains.

At the other extreme, this week, on HBO’s movie “Too Big to Fail,” I heard the happiest, funnest name ever: Skip McGee, of Lehman Brothers. Hey, everyone, it’s Skip McGee! they must say every time he walks in a room. Mladic would have turned out very differently if his parents had named him Skip.

William Hurt was pretty good as Henry Paulson but his... face... didn’t quite match up.

Safeguarding Citiwhatever

Today, Bush visited Hank Paulson at the Treasury Department for a delicious beverage: “Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for inviting me in for a cup of coffee.”


CITICORPSE?: “The decision was made to safeguard Citi -- Citicorps.” You mean Citicorp (not corps), the name Citigroup hasn’t used since 1998. Isn’t that how we got into this mess – giving away lots of money to people we didn’t know much of anything about?


HE’S THE DECIDERER: “We have made these kind of decisions in the past -- made one last night.”


AND WILL BE THE DECIDERER FOR THE NEXT (SIGH) 57 DAYS: “And if need be, we’re going to make these kind of decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future.” Way to boost economic confidence, George.

Also today, Barack Obama officially announced who would be the next face of the American economy, one Timothy Geithner.


Hmm.

It was interesting to watch him go upstairs

Condi Rice was interviewed by CSPAN:

Q: So if Condi Rice is writing the first textbook on the Bush presidency, the first paragraph, what would you include?

RICE: The President believed that all men were created equal and that they were – all men and women were created equal, and that they had the right to live in freedom and liberty. That meant freedom from tyranny, but also freedom from poverty, freedom from ignorance. And he made it the purpose of American foreign policy to begin that journey, knowing that it wouldn’t be achieved on his watch -- it’s a generational struggle, but knowing that ultimately, when it was achieved, there would be absolutely no ground and no basis on which terrorists could hold.

Miss, will that be on the mid-term?

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Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gave a press conference today to say that he won’t use the $700 billion the Congress so nicely gave him in the way they gave it to him to use, but he’ll do something else with it which’ll be way better. So that’s okay then.

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CNN interviewed George Bush yesterday.

WHAT HE DOESN’T WANT YOUR TROOPS THINKING: “I don’t want your troops thinking that the decisions I have made were about politics or about my standing.”

INTERESTING: On his meeting with Obama: “It was interesting to watch someone that is getting ready to assume the office of the president. ... It was interesting to watch him go upstairs.” You were totally checking out his ass, weren’t you, George?

WHAT HE REMINDS PEOPLE OF: “And I remind people popularity is fleeting. Principles are forever.”

WHAT HE REGRETS: “I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said. [CNN: Like?] Like ‘dead or alive,’ or ‘bring ‘em on.’ And, by the way, my wife reminded me as president of the United States, you better be careful what you say. I was trying to convey a message. I could have conveyed it more artfully. Being on this ship reminds me of when I went to the USS Abraham Lincoln and they had a sign that said ‘Mission Accomplished.’ I regret that sign was there. It was a sign aimed at the sailors on the ship, but it conveyed a broader knowledge. To some it said, well, Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over, when I didn’t think that. But nonetheless, it conveyed the wrong message.” Notice that he evidently doesn’t regret anything since May July of 2003. Because everything’s gone swell since then.

WHAT HE KNOWS: “I know I’m going be in Texas. No doubt I’m heading straight home. I miss Texas. I love Texas. I’ve got lots of friends in Texas.” All imaginary.

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A lack of confidence that must be conquered

Today Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced his latest plan for spending that blank check Congress gave him: buying equity in banks, including more or less healthy ones, in the hope that they’ll use the money for the greater good. What do we get for the $250 billion he’s planning to spend in this endeavour? Confidence! “Today, there is a lack of confidence in our financial system, a lack of confidence that must be conquered because it poses an enormous threat to our economy.” So it’s time for another episode of Everything You Need To Know About How Confident You Should Be In The Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Henry Paulson’s Face.



I FEEL MORE CONFIDENT ALREADY: “Government owning a stake in any private U.S. company is objectionable to most Americans, me included.” Because the past record of Bush appointees running government programs to whose existence they have ideological objections is just so confidence-inspiring.


REALLY, JUST SO MUCH MORE CONFIDENT: “We are acting with unprecedented speed taking unprecedented measures that we never thought would be necessary.” Because having the people who never saw the problem coming beforehand acting with “unprecedented speed” in responding to it is just so confidence-inspiring.


Meanwhile, George Bush picked out an appropriate cup to fill with tequila to “build mah confidence until ah puke.”

Meeting these challenges

This morning, Bush gave a very brief statement about the financial situation.

SELL! SELL! SELL! “I’ve canceled my travel today to stay in Washington, where I will continue to closely monitor the situation in our financial markets and consult with my economic advisors.”

SELL! DID YOU HEAR ME? SELL EVERYTHING! “[M]y administration is focused on meeting these challenges.”

But everything you need to know about the economy, you can tell...


And do you concur with that assessment, Secretary Paulson’s face?


(That picture actually from 3 days ago)

Soundness and resilience

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s mouth says that Americans can be confident in the “soundness and resilience in the American financial system” (or at least what’s left of it). But what does his face say?

Restoring faith

Today the feds seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to “restore faith” in them (and to pass taxpayer dollars to their bondholders). And what better to restore faith than yet another episode of “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face”?

What idea do you have?

In a long profile of Secretary Treasury Hank Paulson in the NYT business section, Paulson asks plaintively, “When I talk to people, there are a whole lot of them that say: ‘I don’t like this,’ ‘I don’t like that,’ ‘I don’t like the other thing.’ I say: ‘Neither do I. What idea do you have? What do you think we should do?’”

The article is illustrated by another NYT entry in my series, Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face.

Continued stresses

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made a speech today in which he asked Americans to be patient with the economy as it experiences “continued stresses”. Speaking of continued stresses...



The NYT had its own entry in Everything You Need to Know About the Economy etc, with a three-picture series illustrating this article in the dead-tree edition today, but they only used one of the pictures online, so you’ll have to make do with my pictures of those pictures.

Number 12 in the series, “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face”

And a special surprise bonus feature, Everything You Need to Know About John McCain’s Campaign You Can Tell By the Expression on His Face.

Safe word

News from the Max Mosley breach-of-privacy lawsuit (dude, sex with one prostitute is private, five not so much): the News of the World is having trouble proving that the, as the British tabs like to put it, sex romp, was Nazi-themed, because the “dominatrix was too upset to give evidence”.

Today Bush met with his “economic team.”

WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, AND WHO IT HAS AFFECTED: “The problem, of course, is that gasoline prices are up, which has affected the people here in our country.”

Which brings us to another exciting episode of Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face.


John McCain, however, campaigning in Altoona, thinks American workers have nothing to be, you know, whiny about.

Perhaps it’s not so popular to be a suicide bomber

Condi is “proud” of the invasion of Iraq, which has absolutely not, she says, made the world less safe. Her proof: “We’re now beginning to see that perhaps it’s not so popular to be a suicide bomber. We’re beginning to see that perhaps people are questioning whether Osama Bin Laden ought to really be the face of Islam.” Quod erat demonstrandum.

And now, a very special, international edition of “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face,” from a press conference in London today.

Number 9 in the series, “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face.”

From a speech given today at a “Women in Housing and Finance” meeting.





And, er, what might he be signaling here?

Number 8 in the series, “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face.”

McCain’s daddy issues

Today McCain talked about how every single one of his (male) ancestors has served in the military, killing people for their country. He said that when he was a POW, his father “prayed on his knees every night for my safe return. ... Yet, when duty required it, he gave the order for B-52s to bomb Hanoi, in close proximity to my prison.” You know, if my father had dropped bombs in close proximity to me, I wouldn’t be praising his patriotism, I would consider him a bit of a douche. Of course my father wasn’t in the military, he was in accounting, so I’d also really have to wonder what he was doing with all those bombs. And for that matter, what I was doing in a prison in Hanoi.

(Little artistic license there: my father was not actually in accounting.)

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held a press conference to propose rejiggering financial regulatory bodies (and preempting state regulation of securities and industry). Which means it’s time for another instalment of our ongoing series, “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face.”

Challenging

This morning Bush, wearing his lucky St Patrick’s Day tie, met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and then made a statement about the economy. “One thing is for certain -- we’re in challenging times.” Or, as economists would phrase that, “Oh God, my portfolio, my portfolio!”

He thanked Paulson: “And I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for working over the weekend.” On his resume.

He cheerily reassured us that, just like Iraq, “In the long run, our economy is going to be fine.” However, everything you need to know about the economy in the short run you can tell, as always, by the expression on Paulson’s face.

Number 5 in the series “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face”

Number 4 in the series “Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face”

Testifying before the Senate Budget Committee today about Bush’s proposed budget (it’s on a laptop computer, you know).

Leading economic indicator

This morning, Bush announced an agreement on an economic stimulus package, which I believe entailed taking the Democrats’ lunch money and distributing it to the rich. This brings us to episode 3 of Everything You Need to Know About the Economy You Can Tell By the Expression on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Face.