Gotta disagree, Billie. This administration, just like almost all before them, has a great depth of economic and financial knowledge and experience. The problem isn't with those with financial responsibilities in Washington who got there by being appointed. The problem lies with those that are there as the result of being elected.

The appointees work for the "electees" and they have distinctly different sets of knowledge and experience. The appointees are there for only a short period of time, and they know that. But the electees have the opportunity to hold those sweet, rewarding and powerful jobs for a long, long while...just so long as they don't do anything stupid. Stupid like cutting the gravy-train of spending that buys them the votes for re-election after re-election. Or even worse, saying out loud what is a mathematical certainty--the budget cannot be balanced with spending reductions alone. It's going to take tax increases, as well.

Nope, I'm convinced that the people in the key financial positions in Washington know exactly what the problem is and what it will take to fix it. They probably even have an opinon on whether it can be fixed at all. It's just that the electees who appointed them are telling them every day to keep their yaps shut. Particularly now, with only 7-8 month to go until another election.

As you so accurately noted, Geithner said a lot of words last week without saying anything. Just like Greenspan and Paulson and Rubin did for all those years, as did their predecessors before them. They know that if they ever said in public what they really know, that their bosses might not get re-elected. And we all know what's most important, don't we?