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U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner outlines the Obama Administration's plans for the economy while testifying before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in Washington, February 10, 2009. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner testifies before the Senate Budget Committee during a hearing on 'Policies to Address the Crises in Financial and Housing Markets' at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 11, 2009. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivers a speech in the Cash Room of the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, February 10, 2009. Geithner on Tuesday announced a plan to take $500 billion in bad assets off...

In his inaugural address, President Obama promised to initiate a "new era of responsibility." These heights were to be scaled following a successful campaign to transcend the "old politics" of Washington, D.C. Two weeks is a short period of time on which to judge an era, so let's just say it hasn't gotten off to a roaring start. The hallmark of this new era is apparently the cap on executive compensation for banks taking bailout money from Uncle Sam. This makes Democrats giddy, as they despise high salaries for executives, except when those executives are Democratic former members of Congress,...

Reading this morning's dispatches from the scene of the Daschle crash -- everyone gingerly stepping through the wreckage, trying to comprehend the forces that generated such a highlight-reel wipeout -- it seems obvious that it had to end this way. It ended because the alternative was class warfare (enthusiastically stoked, no doubt, by partisans and media loudmouths). Yeah: A Shays Rebellion for our time. Peasants with pitchforks. Tom Daschle had to be jettisoned in an attempt to stave off a tax revolt that could potentially drain the Treasury faster than even the porkiest "recovery" bill. Officially, he withdrew without being...