Neel Kashkari, Bailout Czar, Not A Fan Of Public Questions

When it came time for questions, the former Goldman Sachs executive told the eager audience that he had time for just "two or three."

In response to the first question, about the government's latest lifeline for beleaguered insurance company American International Group, Kashkari gave a clipped response before quickly moving on.

"This morning's action at AIG was a one-off event" that was necessary for the financial stability of the markets, he said. "He didn't say anything that I couldn't have learned from going to the Web site," griped one mortgage entrepreneur. Treasury spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli said it's not unusual for public officials to answer a few questions before moving on. Kashkari's impatient tone comes amid a growing desire for openness about how government agencies, including the Treasury, are handling billions of taxpayer dollars being used to prop up Wall Street.

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Read up on Neel Kashkari, the former Goldman Sachs exec and current Assistant Secretary of Treasury

Comments

[aweissnet]

We need to see more public dialog. They need to explain themselves. And if they're not behaving, they lose stuff.

Like single people, in bankruptcy. They lose pretty much everything. Or they repay. They can't even keep a house. These guys ain't losing a thing. The lower workers did, however.

[cdsister]

Is it just me or does this guy look like the actor that played the "Mummy", Arnold Vosloo? Sorry it just side tracked me.

[kewps]

I loathe this dude.

[Badbone]

Now there's a face you can trust!

[Navy VET EOD]

I wonder how long it will be before Neel has his portrait on http://dickipedia.org.

[kewps]

The new poster child! LOL!

[TravisReedJr]

this guys name makes me wanna punch his lights out....

kneel-cash-carry......

[Navy VET EOD]

LOL...I know! I was listening to Morning Edition on my way in to work back when they first announced his appointment as Paulson's $700B Bailout Czar and gave a short bio. When I heard his last name ("CASH-carry") and about his Goldman-Sachs pedigree I started LMAO. What a country, eh?!

I just hope the GAO has its very best auditors on this one.

[Navy VET EOD]

The 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (AKA: The Bail-Out Bill) requires the GAO to monitor the performance of the program, and report findings to Congress every 60 days (...this means the first report should be available at www.gao.gov sometime in early December 2008...I can't wait).

The Act also requires the GAO to audit the program annually and grants the Comptroller General access to all information, records, reports, data, etc. belonging to or in use by the program (...even Neel).

Maybe they should have made it an every 30 days reporting requirement?

[doctordoubt]

This is just so typical of the way people who are wrong, react. Look at how Bush handled questions. Look at how Cheny did. Clipped, no point made, evasive. When you're wrong, the last thing you want is questions. This guy is wrong, for a whole raft of reasons.

[javagirl322]

Yeah, and when the money starts to disappear....they have a scapegoat!!

[Cuyahoga]

This man is very young and too inexperienced to be in this position. His words prove that, and his appearance is gauged to intimidate. Unless he's the victim of some disease, what is with the BALD look? He needs to take a far back seat to a more intelligent and wise mentor, and for quite a while.

[remichex]

The BALD look is because HE IS TRULY BALDING! He is too vain to let his hair grow out and fears people seeing his premature receding hair line....so, he shaves it thinking it makes him look macho and intimidating....What an A******!!!!

[ProfessorDuh]

Fa cism is not forthcoming.

[PT6]

It is not too late to recapture what has been taken from AMERICA!

Where there is a will there is a way! The courts offer the WAY!

Unpunished they will do it again the NEXT CHANCE THEY GET!

EVEN TODAY, because the risk of capture and prosecution is so low, the corrupt are continuing to SHORT OUR MARKETS AND RUIN OUR COMPANIES and our FUTURE!

[ENOS]

Transpearancy please! It's my money and my country!

[peacegurl48]

Hopefully he'll be out the door!

[hollybork]

The problem is to help out the troubled sector without roiling the markets. He doesn't want to say too much because then in come the short sellers, etc. If only there were one person we really really trusted in the government chain of command who understood this stuff and acted on behalf of the people as a whole. If only we had a Treasury Secty who was not a former head of Goldman Sachs, or a fed chairman who did not previously lobby congress to eliminate the very regulation that led to this fiasco. If only we could trust the President, and he could look into it.

I hope to heaven the professional financial managers are not stealing the whole pot of money, covering over their mistakes and setting up Swiss bank accounts to beat it out of town when they change the locks on the Whitehouse and the Treasury. If only there had been some written enforceable promises extracted from these villains who are getting the money. How can we trust either the judgement of the financial industry or their motives?

I like Berkshire Hathaway Chairman. Other than him, the only two financial executives I trust are the President of JP Morgan Chase and the President of Travelers Insurance. They have kept their companies financially solvent and strong and are outstanding managers and good men.

[linzy]

The rich get rich, and the poor get poorer...