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Politics | 01/09/2009 12:55 pm

Huffington's Hang-up: Get to the Bottom of the Bailout, Not Blago

By The staff at wowOwow.com
© AP

Arianna Huffington has a bone to pick with the media.

The cable news outlets, she says, are focusing too much on the "Blago/Burris/Reid and Kennedy/Paterson/Cuomo soap operas," and not enough time investigating how we’re spending the government’s multibillion-dollar bailout.

"Why have the media shown such relatively little interest in the utter lack of transparency about the bailout? Is it because they are still in campaign mode - addicted to small bore, quick burn-out stories?" she writes in a column on her site, the Huffington Post. "The time has come to recalibrate. … Admittedly, governing stories aren’t usually as sexy as campaign stories … [But] this mystery is unfolding right in front of us, and the size of the victim pool could very well depend on whether we unravel the mystery in flashback or while it’s still in progress."

Huffington’s not the only person calling for an explanation. A congressional oversight panel will today release a report accusing the Treasury Department of not telling its strategy for getting the financial system back on track, of having done nothing to help troubled homeowners and of having "significant gaps" in its ability to track the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Incoming Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and other members of Barack Obama’s economic team are trying to overhaul the program and expand it to help more than just Wall Street.

Sources told The Washington Post:

Geithner has been working night and day on the eighth floor of the transition team office in downtown Washington with Lawrence H. Summers and other senior economic advisers to hash out a new approach that would expand the program’s aid to municipalities, small businesses, homeowners and other consumers. With lawmakers stewing over how Bush administration officials spent the first $350 billion, Geithner has little chance of winning congressional approval for the second half without retooling the program."

Word has it the new plan would use more bailout money to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and unclog the credit markets that finance loans to consumers, small businesses and municipalities that rely on credit to pay public employees like police. That should be good news to Main Street and beyond – the real ones who have suffered from Wall Street’s misdeeds.

80 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Frannie Em
Frank True - “but the rich abide along with the Dude”. LOL. The problem is, in order to be active in the process when dealing with our congress people, I gotta read and know what the rich are doing, because they abide at the top of the problem.
By Frannie Em on 01/10/2009 12:33 pm
f p
You bet your bippy they do Frannie lol How’s Eric doing? Western Washington really got hit with flooding—hope he’s ok.
By f p on 01/10/2009 12:49 pm
Maurine H
Frannie and Frank - I feel a sort of social responsibility to read Liz Peek and others with whom I’m at philosophical odds, but I often can’t think of much to say except, “I sure don’t agree with you!” I realize that each of has a perspective shaped by our own experiences, and each is valid for that reason. I do think I represent a certain segment of “average Americans.” - retired, moderate income, well-educated, progressive thinking. I’m not a high roller financially and have no investments in the stock market. But I’m a careful observer of what’s been taking place on Wall Street and in the corporate world. I’d love to start a revolution of retired people marching into NY and DC demanding that justice be levied on the crooks who have bilked decent Americans out of their life savings. Any takers? As for the media’s relative silence on the economy - with few exceptions, I don’t think any of the talking heads understands enough about finance to render a worthwhile opinion. And…don’t forget who owns the media!!!
By Maurine H on 01/10/2009 3:17 pm
f p
I agree whole-heartedly Mo—count me in on the march lol
By f p on 01/10/2009 3:28 pm
Maurine H
Cool, Frank - you’re in charge of refreshments!
By Maurine H on 01/10/2009 4:25 pm
Frannie Em
Frank I don’t know how he is doing. THe circuits are always screwed up when I try to call him so I can’t get through. I don’t know if they have sent some of the army out to help. I was wondering if your daughter was in the thick of it. I saw a shot of Interstate 5 and I couldn’t believe it. What a mess. I know we drove through that area. I saw one guys place in a rural area and the house was up on a rise and the water went right up to the back door, the air shot looked like his house was in the center of a pond. It is going to be one helluva clean up.
By Frannie Em on 01/11/2009 2:42 am
f p
NO my kid is alright—she’s up high by Pt Defiance Park—it’s a mess alright—Centralia/Chehalis got it really bad as usual as did Orting and the Puyallup area—Man I wouldn’t live near a river if they paid me big bucks to do it.
By f p on 01/11/2009 7:42 am
Frannie Em
Fp I heard the road between Portland and Tacoma is flooded out in many places. This is a total mess. The base is right in the middle of it all, but I guess if those guys don’t know how to survive, they shouldn’t be in the army. I have been through a major flood in my canyon, then major fire, and then major earthquake - a dif disaster each year for 3 years in a row. I was only a kid then, but it taught me many things. Now we have been having a lot of little earthquakes around the southland and so it is time to renew info on earthquake preparedness, just to keep us all up to snuff.
By Frannie Em on 01/11/2009 5:02 pm
S.J. Morgan
So if Huffington does not believe in sensationalism why is there a Palin or Republican distorted story daily!!! She just does not allow those that bring a bad light on her party!
By S.J. Morgan on 01/09/2009 3:35 pm
DeBúrca obj
Huffington Post is a blog, it is not news media. She is saying the news media needs to talk about the issue of the economy and the bail out more than the drama of these two Senate seats. The Senate seats will again be news when they are filled. We don’t need day to day coverage of speculation about what decisions are yet to be made regarding them.
By DeBúrca obj on 01/09/2009 5:26 pm
Kathrine Gluvna
Do you spend much time on her website? If so, we must be on different sites. There are people woth all different opions who blog on HuffPo. Not all are liberal Democrats.
By Kathrine Gluvna on 01/09/2009 5:49 pm
Kathrine Gluvna
This is for SJ, of course.
By Kathrine Gluvna on 01/09/2009 5:49 pm
f p
Exactly Katherine—all different types of political view are there.
By f p on 01/10/2009 7:47 am
DeBúrca obj
She is right. Unfortunately the media wants the sexy stories and the economy isn’t sexy. People must demand information regarding these bail outs.
By DeBúrca obj on 01/09/2009 5:24 pm
Frannie Em
DeB Good point.
By Frannie Em on 01/09/2009 7:28 pm