Mr. Obama is betting that the totality of economic policies his team and the Federal Reserve have put in place will act, like radiation therapy, to halt the spread and reduce the size of the cancerous tumors eating away at our financial system \u201d\u201d and stimulate enough new growth and optimism so that Phase II will be small enough to get past Congress and the public.<\/p>\n
As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told ABC News, \u201cIf we get to that point\u201d\u009d \u201d\u201d where more funds are needed \u201d\u201d \u201cwe\u2019ll go to the Congress and make the strongest case possible and help them understand why this will be cheaper over the long run to move aggressively.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Have no doubt, Phase II is coming. At best, it will require hundreds of billions of dollars more, at worst more than a trillion, to deal with more bad loans and toxic assets weakening the economy \u201d\u201d problems that Phase I can\u2019t fully absorb. Because unemployment is still rising \u201d\u201d ensuring that the initial spate of mortgage defaults, which came from loans to people who could never repay, will be followed by another spate of defaults from those who could repay but now can\u2019t because the deteriorating economy has stripped them of their jobs, their businesses or their credit lines.<\/p>\n