Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pledged yesterday for greater transparency in the government’s bank rescue plan and yet gave none.
Geithner laid out broad initiatives to bring private investors into the fray of buying beleaguered bank assets, but could not be more specific as to what it would look like.
Why Geithner even bothered to take the podium is beyond me. His press secretary could have gave this speech and not had Wall Street and Main Street hanging on the edge of their seats over a new bailout plan.
Geithner said it may cost $2 trillion to help repair, but did not know where the money would go.
If Geithner was at the table when Henry Paulson struggled to keep the ATMs working in mid-September, he should know that this speech would crater both bond and stock markets.
The shock and awe was that he had no details.
If Geithner plans on an incremental rool out of TARP II look for a market bottom at 650 on the S&P and a Dow at 5800 by the end of March.
The upside is gold could be at $1,200 especially if we have further banks repudiating debt like the Russian banks announcement last night.
For more on Wall and Washington and the cratering economy see:
Gray's Economy 