The Federal Bank of Chernobyl
I have sympathy for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner. As I listened to him unveil the latest iteration of the bank rescue plan this morning an image flashed into my head. It was the image of Soviet troops, dropped by helicopter onto the smoking roof of the Chernobyl reactor, furiously dumping ton after ton of sand onto the molten reactor below.
Like those poor Soviet troops, the last guy who held Geithner’s job, was so politically radio active by the time he got off that roof he’ll probably glow in the dark for the rest of his life.
Now it’s Geithner’s turn.
Eventually the Soviets got the fire out, but the mother of all toxic waste dumps remained. And, assuming Geithner can get control of the banking meltdown, he too will have even a bigger, and more difficult, job on his hand – dealing with the trillions of dollars in toxic waste those under-regulated banks pumped into the world’s fiscal food chain.
