Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey: CNBC Guest Jackass

Dick Armey's analysis consisted of nothing more than a bunch of laissez-faire talking points about how wonderful markets work when freed from government regulation, e.g., “let the market settle this stuff and let the people who created the problem take the consequences.”




The problem Dick is that the people who created the problem aren't taking the consequences. The guys who wrote all the credit default swaps at AIG collected their millions in salaries and bonuses. The guys who created the mortgage backed securities at Lehman and Bear Stearns have already cashed their checks.

They may be out of work for the moment, but Geithner's plan is going to create demand for people who understand how these instruments work. I have no doubt that many of these guys are going to wind up collecting huge paychecks to help clean up the mess that they got paid to make in the first place.