Whoever said irony died after 9/11 clearly didn’t anticipate this.

I know we’re only three and a half weeks into the new administration.  But I think it’s already time that informed lay people can start guessing how long Tim Geithner will last as Treasury Secretary.

I can’t decide if this is a case of cluelessness, stubbornness, or both.

When Bob Woodward slaps together his next instant-history book about the Panic of ‘08 (c’mon, you just know he’s going to), I imagine the book will open with the events of September 18-19, 2008.

As I ponder the twin taxpayer shakedowns of the “stimulus” bill and “Son of TARP,” a couple of impertinent questions cross my mind.

Conventional wisdom says the Dow jumped nearly 3% Friday on the following perverse logic: Awful unemployment numbers would spur Congress to speed up passage of the “stimulus” bill, and happy days would soon be here again.

Time’s a-wastin’ for the new president if he has a prayer of staving off the appearance of a financial Black Swan during February.

I’m keeping an eye out for financial Black Swans this month — more than usual.

The winds of feigned outrage promise to blow hard from Washington, D.C. today.  The new president will announce limits on executive pay for companies slopping at the TARP trough.  And at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Congresscritters will hold hearings on Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

No, don’t get the wrong idea from the title.