Conspiracy Theory

Our poor Treasury secretary:

But even as he maintains a frenetic pace — unveiling plans, testifying before Congress and negotiating new bailouts with the likes of Citigroup, General Motors and the American International Group — there are signs that events are getting ahead of him.

Administration officials say they are postponing their plan to produce a detailed road map for overhauling the nation’s financial regulatory system by April, in time for the Group of 20 meeting in London. Though officials say they will still develop basic principles in time for the meeting, the plan will not include much detail.

Treasury officials are also still scrambling to decide details of their plan to buy up as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets from the nation’s banks, one month after being widely criticized for presenting a plan that lacked any specifics on how it would work.

Analysts say it is far too early to know if Mr. Geithner and his team will be effective.

Overworked, undertaxedpaid. If I went in for conspiracy theories, I’d have to wonder if Geithner is supposed to fail. He’s got no senior help, thanks to a “broken” vetting process, and no plan, thanks to… uh… well, I don’t honestly know why someone in his position and with his experience has no plan. Which brings us back to the conspiracy theory: The less Geithner accomplishes, the more of a crisis President Obama and Rahm Emanuel have to take advantage of.