Obama the Financial Procrastinator

Banks continue to fail at an alarming rate. The chart below summarizes bank failure data from the FDIC by quarter. Q1 2010 looks like an improvement until you realize the data are only through early February.

More than a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the government has no exit strategy for Fannie and Freddie, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson says we've made no progress on improving the regulations for dealing with failed financial institutions, and the number of institutions on the FDIC's "Problem List continues to soar - from 552 in September to 702 in December, noting that "that indicators of asset quality continued to deteriorate during the fourth quarter."

In the meantime, Obama and Democrats in Congress are simultaneously claiming victory over the job-creating power of the stimulus package, while claiming jobs are "top priority" for 2010.  So far, this has resulted in a $15 billion job bill proposed by Harry Reid.  They're using up countless hours blaming Republicans for the failure of a health care bill that couldn't get enough Democratic support, and has Democrats retiring from public office over the partisanship created.  While the FDIC reports bank profits are "still well below historical norms for quarterly profits," and that profit improvement indicates progress for the economy, the President rails against excesses in the financial sector to score political points without taking any meaningful steps toward addressing the real problems.

Financial reform should be top priority, and the longer Obama puts this off, the less likely he will be able to cry "I inherited this mess" when it blows up in his face.

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