The Helicopter Ben And Timmy Show Blows A Rotor

Three items taken separately may not amount to much.  But taken all in the same week, it may finally spell out that Obama is serious about changing the game on banks.  First, the Volcker Rules look like a major restoration of the firewall between bank and investment house.  Second, is this article from Reuters that Timmy doesn't like the Volcker Rules or Obama's TARP fee one bit.

Geithner is concerned that the proposed limits on big banks' trading and size could impact U.S. firms' global competitiveness, the sources said, speaking anonymously because Geithner has not spoken publicly about his reservations.

He also has concerns that the limits do not necessarily get at the heart of the problems and excesses that fueled the recent financial meltdown, the sources said.

Really?  Privately the SecTreas is pissing all over the President's new economic proposals and he is taking the line that the Wall Street banksters he's supposed to be regulating are right after they lost trillions?  I have said Tim Geithner was the wrong man from the very beginning and it's looking more and more like I was right.

Number three is the news today that Helicopter Ben doesn't have 60 votes in the Senate to beat the numerous Senate holds on his reconfirmation.

"The American people are disgusted with the greed and recklessness of Wall Street," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in an interview with The Associated Press last month. "People are asking, 'Why didn't the Fed intervene at the appropriate time to stop the casino-type activities of large financial companies?'"

Sanders, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., have all put holds on Bernanke's nomination, requiring 60 votes to proceed to a vote.

Voter anger is of heightened concern to members of Congress given the surprise victory of Sen.-elect Scott Brown, R-Mass., who rode a tide of voter discontent and economic anxiety to an upset victory in a special election earlier this week.

Last month, the Senate Banking Committee voted in favor of Bernanke's nomination by a vote of 16-7, not exactly a reflection of overwhelming positive feelings towards the Fed chair given the fact that he was first appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush and nominated by President Obama for a second term last August.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at one point was planning on scheduling a vote on Bernanke for Friday, but the Senate is currently in the midst of a debate over raising the debt limit and the vote has been pushed.

Like Salon's Andrew Leonard, I'm thinking Volcker should be offered Timmy's job and Helicopter Ben should get the boot too.  Maybe this is a turning point for Obama's econ team.

Maybe.