"David Weidner Brings the Crazy"

Somehow I doubt we'll see a post with that headline on Megan McCardle's Atlantic blog in response to Weidner's MarketWatch column today, which questions the influence Goldman Sachs has exerted on the government's response to the financial crisis ("Government Sachs is in control"¹). Last month Megan used a similar headline when a Member of Congress raised similar questions about Goldman Sachs ("Maxine Waters brings the crazy"). In that post, Megan embedded the video below, of Rep. Waters questioning Treasury Secretary Geithner, and opined that,

She seems to get all of her questions off of the fringier conspiracy sites.

Some commenters dismissed Waters because of her previous comments, or because she flubbed some basic terminology in this video (e.g., referring to Geithner's deputy -- a Goldman Sachs alumnus -- as his "CEO"), but as I wrote in the comment thread of Megan's post at the time,

Maxine Waters is neither crazy nor stupid, as some here seem to think. She and her family members seem to have done quite well in business dealings trading off of her position²: she has to have some savvy to have been able to do that and not get in trouble with the law (at least so far). Since her family's success in business seems to have been from rent-seeking, she probably assumes that's how big business works too, which may explain her apparent contempt for corporate CEOs. In the case of Goldman Sachs, she may not be entirely off base. It's certainly not unreasonable to ask questions about the ubiquity of Goldman Sachs alumni in influential positions, and how that may have influenced government policies that, so far, have been very good for Goldman Sachs.

¹In his column, Weidner wrote,

Since the fall of Bear Stearns Cos. a little more than a year ago, Goldman has taken more than $20 billion in taxpayer cash through loans, payments and backstops.

[...]

In the last year, Goldman has benefited from Paulson's selective bailouts, a fortuitously timed ban on short selling, a liberal interpretation of bank holding company rules and soon, an easily gamed auction of distressed securities run by the government.

A conspiracy theorist might think this run of fortune has something to do with the former Goldman executives having influential roles in the Treasury Department.

²See this previous post for some examples, "Peering Under the TARP: Foul Waters"