Every so often, plain-speaking slips through…. even on the pages of the New York Times. Here’s a quote on the Geithner plan:

“As a whole then, the plan takes important steps in the right direction, but it is unclear in critical aspects. We do not know whether this is because the Treasury cannot afford to be too clear, or whether it is because the Treasury still has little idea about what to do. The coming days will tell.

Finally, the plan will need public and political support to be credible. This means that bankers and existing investors should not be seen as benefiting at the expense of the taxpayer, and that all the government investment should start paying off in the not-too-distant future. While the Treasury has resisted the urge to ceremonially sacrifice the bankers, this makes it even more imperative that President Obama’s political skills be used to sell the plan.”

Diamond, Kashyap and Rajan on the Geithner Plan, Freakonomics blog, NY Times, February 12, 2009

(The emphasis at the end of the excerpt is mine. The blog on which this post appeared is run by Steven D. Levitt, co-author of the best-selling, Freakonomics;  the economists who are guest posting are University of Chicago Professors, Douglas Diamond and Anil Kashyap, and IMF economist, Raghuram Rajan)