Maverecon (Willem Buiter): Since the Obama administration took over on January 20, the US Treasury has, in effect, been out to lunch. As widely reported, Sir Gus O'Donnell (as cabinet secretary the top UK civil servant) has attacked the "absolute madness" of the US spoils system, where a new federal administration replaces the entire top stratum of the civil service with new officials possessing the right political connections and leanings.

Quite a few of these top officials need to be confirmed before they can start working. This can take months. Many of the new officials have no political, government or administrative experience and spend most of their first months in office trying to figure out where the washroom is instead of designing and implementing policy.