Or would that be a lagging indicator?
Whatever the case, John Harwood reports in his NYT "Caucus" column that:
[S]igns that economic growth is resuming have eased the sense of crisis surrounding Mr. Geithner’s work. The economic 'message' meetings in Mr. Emanuel’s office have slowed from daily to weekly [emphasis added].
I think I'm upgrading my rating on America from "sell" to "hold."
In a similar vein, a Stash correspondent in upper Northwest DC spotted the Treasury secretary early Saturday evening at Politics and Prose, the iconic Washington bookstore, where he spent about an hour browsing and sitting down for a reading by author Kay Redfield Jamison. Here's how the Politics and Prose website promoted the event:
Since she first spoke at P&P in 1995, Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, has attained national prominence for her pioneering research in the field of manic-depressive illness. In this deeply personal book she explores her grief following the death of her husband, Richard Wyatt. They met which [sic] he was 45 and she 38. They had 20 years together before he died from lung cancer. In one of the most interesting sections, she analyzes the difference between grief and depression, as only she could.
I know it doesn't sound like much of an indulgence. But my sense is that there were times six months ago when Geithner didn't have an hour to kill on a Saturday evening--certainly not at 6 o'clock. (For what its worth, no one other than our stringer appeared to recognize him--arguably another good indicator.)
P.S. Harwood had a few more interesting, if not quite shocking, nuggets in his piece. Including this: "Mr. Geithner proved that point [his influence with the president] by successfully pushing for Mr. Obama to reappoint Mr. Bernanke, his close ally in the battles of the last year." And this: "The president’s decision to impose tariffs on imported Chinese tires, which Mr. Geithner opposed, showed he does not win every argument."