I’ve said before, when it comes to government, that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing. Perhaps I was being generous, following Napoleon’s quote: “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”

Perhaps they know exactly what they’re doing, and they just don’t want to tell us:

Geithner’s message was well received at the talks, known as the G-7, which gather the United States, Canada, Japan, and four major nations from Europe. Russia and world financial organizations also attended. Going into the meeting, Canadian Finance Minister James M. Flaherty called the U.S. financial rescue “less than clear,” echoing comments made by financial chiefs in France and Germany. Afterward, many of the officials appeared reassured, saying that Geithner provided clear answers to their questions. Several officials said Geithner was particularly helpful in explaining how the various elements of the administration’s initiatives tie together as well as how he plans to combine public funds with private resources to get more bang out of every rescue dollar the governments spends.

Later in the article, Geithner claims that he just didn’t want to be too specific announcing his plans before they were firm. I guess a lot of decisions must have been made between Tuesday and Saturday, huh? I don’t see why he couldn’t have held off his press conference a few days — rather than try to hide it behind the stimulus debate — if he was that close to a plan.

So what’s the over/under on when the most transparent administration in history will tell the rest of us what they told the G7? Will it be before or after they’ve spent the money?

Hat Tip: Kevin Drum