Who's the ant?
I've not commented on John Boehner calling the financial crisis "an ant" because, well, what can you say? But Gail Collins is right to point out that the metaphor got the relative sizes of the financial sector and the FinReg bill backward:
“That’s right,” said President Obama at his town-hall meeting on the economy in Wisconsin. “He compared the financial crisis to an ant. The same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs.”
It really was a ridiculous metaphor. The financial reform package is actually more like killing a mastodon with a small spear. Could work, but not the sort of weapon you’d want to count on for every occasion.
There are a lot of smart criticisms one can make of the financial regulation bill. Some of them have been made by liberals -- that it doesn't deal with bank size or capital requirements very effectively -- and, as is often the case these days, some of them have been made by Paul Ryan. But what you're seeing in Boehner's comment is that the Republican Party's congressional leadership does not, itself, have a very clear idea of how this bill and the financial sector will interact. It's possible the bill will work and possible the financial sector will simply shrug it off, but it's completely implausible that it will be like detonating a nuclear weapon atop a small insect.
By
Ezra Klein
|
July 1, 2010; 3:08 PM ET
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Posted by: Mimikatz | July 1, 2010 3:27 PM | Report abuse
The "ant" is the tiny percentage of crooked financial transactions that everyone agrees need some more regulation. The "nuke" is going to kill the rest of us.
Posted by: JakeD2 | July 1, 2010 3:30 PM | Report abuse
Andrew Breitbart's offering $100k out of his own pocket for the entire JornoList archive. Better hop on it Ezra, lest you be living in Mom's basement forever.
Posted by: luca_20009 | July 1, 2010 3:43 PM | Report abuse
But, but, but ... Ezra told me that John Boehner was the policy wonk of the Republican leadership -- or at least compared to Eric Cantor. It's no wonder Republicans thought that Terry Schaivo wasn't brain dead. ...
Posted by: moronjim | July 1, 2010 3:47 PM | Report abuse
That ant that is a tiny percentage of financial transactions certainly had a nuclear effect on the economy.
Posted by: lmclaughlin1216 | July 1, 2010 3:48 PM | Report abuse
In that same interview, Boehner said that he was not in support of the deepwater drilling moratium, but that instead we should take a "pause" in deepwater drilling while we figure out what went wrong.
Not a very bright man.
Posted by: Patrick_M | July 1, 2010 3:53 PM | Report abuse
You ain't seen the "nuclear effect on the economy". Ever hear of hyper-inflation?
Posted by: JakeD2 | July 1, 2010 3:54 PM | Report abuse
"Ever hear of hyper-inflation?"
Heard of it, but sure don't see any signs of it.
Ad deflationary spiral is a real possibility, however. Especially if there is a double dip, thanks to our refusal to borrow money while rates are this low in order to kick start private sector demand.
Posted by: Patrick_M | July 1, 2010 4:35 PM | Report abuse
Why do members of the House even bother to show up?
The House is simply a rubber stamp for its Speaker: one way to save money might be to simply gather the Representatives once a year, allow them to elect the speaker, then send them all home while the Speaker simply writes legislation and sends it to the Senate.
Posted by: rmgregory | July 1, 2010 4:50 PM | Report abuse
shorter rmgregory:
hey! look over there!
Posted by: Patrick_M | July 1, 2010 4:55 PM | Report abuse
Boehner has a valid point - the less firepower used, the less chance for unintended consequences.
Posted by: sold2u | July 2, 2010 12:13 PM | Report abuse
I do not see any point for this article at all.
Dear Ezra, when You have nothing to say - they don't say.
That is silence which is Gold, but word just silver.
Thank You
Posted by: lordmi | July 2, 2010 1:39 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
Who was it who recently said that today's Congressional leadership were small people compared to the giants of yesteryear?
Boehner, like most GOPers, doesn't really understand how government works, doesn't understand the bills he votes against (or, most likely, the ones he used to vote FOR), and just does what the lobbyists/donors/Heritage Foundation/Tea Party tell him to do. It is all reflexive and ideololgical, not a bit about trying to understand problems and devise solutions. The mystery is why you seem to be surprised by this so much of the time.