Well, yes. It is akin to what Obama said -- that we do not have the "culture" that would allow something like a Swedish-type policy answer for this problem (and then went on to say we have thousands of banks, Sweden has like 4, so it would work for that reason, too; Krugman refuted this by saying it wasn't like thousands of banks caused this, a concentration of some large players did, etc.)
And then, rather than try to change the culture or be a leader, he used it as an excuse to throw the idea of a 'Swedish"-type answer out the window.
However, saying we cannot do something because we are not France, or Sweden, or whatever, seems really ... boneheaded and stubbornly ideological, right now. I would hope Geithner's statement rings as ridiculous in many Americans' ears as it does in mine. No, I won't bet the farm on it. But basically he is saying we can't do something pragmatic, because it isn't ideologically acceptable. Okay, so that is the story of US politics in general. But the kind of cultural moment we're in right now makes these kinds of statements of Geithner's seem especially absurd and very WTF!?
-B.
Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
"[WS:] He is painfully honest, I think. The US is not Sweden. In the US the capitalist elite is and has been very strong and the labor movement is and has been weak. In Sweden, the opposite is true. This why what was possible in Sweden is not possible in the US. The business elite has the power to kill any progressive report right away."