Paulson, Better But Not There

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has an interview with old Washington hand, David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal today. (Hey, I'd link to it but they're behind that paid firewall.) It's the kind of market whispering that he probably should have been doing earlier in the week but better late than never. He doesn't try to be too rosie about the subprime/credit woes and he makes reasonably good comparisons about why this isn't like the 90s crunch--more capital around, better global growth, etc, etc. Wessel kicks with what I think might be the most reassuring thing to the market which is that Paulson has reopened the market monitoring room that John Snow shut down. Showing that they've got all hands on deck watching the situation is the first sign that they're facing reality. I bet Paulson, a Goldman Sachs veteran of trading floors, was mildly shocked to find out there was no war room already up and running. Anyway, better late than never. Given the rough night in Asia and what's shaping up as a tough one in Europe, let's hope so.