The Treasury Department is trying out its latest sleight-of-hand move on the investing public:
Withdrawing "other, unused programs" doesn't count for jack squat when the Treasury intends to keep buying banks' toxic assets. Furthermore, hopes for repayment of another $50B in TARP money are blithely ignorant of the stats on souring credit card loans and commercial real estate mortgages. Treasury's pronouncements depend heavily on the business media's gullibility and inability to perform real analysis.
Time will tell whether Treasury is serious about kicking the props out from under the financial markets. My bet is that they're not serious, which is why I'm hanging onto the gold hedges (IAU and GDX) in my portfolio.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the government is moving to withdraw some of its support for financial markets and cautioned that the recovery will have “more than the usual ups and downs.”
(snip)
Other, unused programs will be allowed to expire, including a program guaranteeing money-market mutual funds and the Capital Assistance Program, which was established earlier this year to provide extra money to banks that needed it and couldn’t access private markets.
Withdrawing "other, unused programs" doesn't count for jack squat when the Treasury intends to keep buying banks' toxic assets. Furthermore, hopes for repayment of another $50B in TARP money are blithely ignorant of the stats on souring credit card loans and commercial real estate mortgages. Treasury's pronouncements depend heavily on the business media's gullibility and inability to perform real analysis.
Time will tell whether Treasury is serious about kicking the props out from under the financial markets. My bet is that they're not serious, which is why I'm hanging onto the gold hedges (IAU and GDX) in my portfolio.
