The financial system in the Unites States (and globally, really) is a complex ball-under-the-shell game, with about a couple thousand shells involved. This allows any given official to say, “We’re fixing the problem,” when in reality they’ve simply moved it out of sight once again. By the time you catch up (or think you’ve caught up) they’ve moved it three times more. The public, and most of the financial press, takes the official’s word for it. They’re too confused to do much else.

The switch-a-roo continues with the latest revealing of a plan to remove “toxic assets” from bank books. Obama’s Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner laid out details that would effect a transfer of as much as $1 trillion in assets, using a combination of public and private investing along with FDIC insurance. The stock markets jolted upwards, signaling what some see as a reversal of the economic crisis. But what is really happening here? While not confident that I understand every detail in this melee (does anyone?), I have a some firm suspicions about the big picture.