Financial Reform Gives Geithner Sweeping Influence

Washington Post:

The dramatic expansion of financial regulation approved by Congress this week bears the stamp of no one more than Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and gives him vast powers to determine the final form of the new rules.

Half a year after some pundits were predicting he would be booted from the Obama administration for poor performance, Geithner is poised to inherit authority to shape bank regulations, financial market oversight and a new consumer protection agency. Few treasury secretaries have ever had such sweeping influence over such a wide realm.

The bill not only hews closely to the initial draft Geithner released last summer, but also anoints him -- as long as he remains treasury secretary -- as the chief of a new council of senior regulators. The legislation also puts him at the head of the new consumer bureau until a director is confirmed by the Senate, allowing Geithner to mold the watchdog in coming months. And it will be up to him to settle a raft of issues left unresolved by the bill -- for instance, which financial derivatives will be subject to the tough new trading rules and which risky activities big banks will be required to spin off.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[liberty23]

09:46 PM on 07/19/2010

If anyone knew what this guy was SUPPOSED to do in the Bush years, NO ONE would be happy that he is overseeing anything. His history in this economic mess is scary, and he is still allowed to monitor on our behalf? Adults need not apply in Washington I guess.

[roybattyjunior]

06:47 PM on 07/19/2010

Geithner = A shandeh un a charpeh

[Lab Sharpei]

06:00 PM on 07/19/2010

Uh oh, another bureaucrat with great power and no accountability...scary...

[sarahtonin]

04:36 PM on 07/19/2010

In Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story", it's mentioned that Geithner's succession of failures, particularly at the NY Fed, were what recommended him for Treasury Secretary.

There was a great line (paraphrasing) that "people who continually give you the wrong answers but the ones you want to hear are incredibly valuable in DC."

[steve11407]

01:37 PM on 07/19/2010

Change YOU can believe in.

[parlimentMike]

01:46 AM on 07/20/2010

Yeah, those who would scare us with "what if the Republicans get back in office/" only need to point to what's going on now to demonstrate what would happen. Vote for Republicans get this, vote for Democrats, Still get this.

I don't want this, so I must vote for a non-democrat and a non-republican.

[blessedfrog]

10:04 AM on 07/19/2010

They just handed teh henhouse to the chief wolf

[vol1805]

09:31 AM on 07/19/2010

spock with a mask but you can't hide those ears

[Low Prices are Good]

11:33 PM on 07/18/2010

must be fun playing god

[ConservativeUSA]

10:32 PM on 07/18/2010

Good job loser Libs. You gave tax cheat Timmy, one of the dumbest people in America, a lot more power.

[Greg2000]

10:18 AM on 07/19/2010

So you're impatiently waiting for economic Nobel prize winner Sarah Palin to save us from our stupidity.

[steve11407]

01:38 PM on 07/19/2010

Why didn't you folks elect Hillary.

[Dangerous Dan]

10:14 PM on 07/18/2010

Federal government to fight state healthcare lawsuit by declaring mandated premiums to be a "TAX" and within the perview of the government to levy.

Guess that means we all make over $250k, by government bookkeeping.

This will be the first time I pay taxes to a private company. I gues the Dems are the first to begin privitizing Government services.

Do we sent our 401k installments to Geithner next?

[ConservativeUSA]

10:33 PM on 07/18/2010

Along with the money for groceries, gas, and housing. I guess the government is going to do everything.

[themodernleader]

09:39 PM on 07/18/2010

With modsest exceptions my fellow bloggers assume that the President wanted reform of the financial industry. But his past decisions and actions disprove that assumption (fallacious belief). On the contrary, Obama has always been in bed with the financial interests. That is why he is distrusted and feared. His duplicity has further divided an anchorless, declining nation. As long as he is President the rise of oligarchy will be evermore. In the history of human organization his administration have few parallels for such betrayal of a nation for specific previlege and power.

[Cipo]

08:38 PM on 07/18/2010

It is all a big con, anyway. There is no reform. There never was going to be any reform. For a simplistic explanation of the issue, please read:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/financial-con-decade-explained-so-simply-even-congressman-will-get-it

[Bonaboman]

04:42 PM on 07/18/2010

Giving Timmy more power is like giving a monkey a bigger gun. He treats subordinates like dirt and it is his way or the high-way. And, is a do as I say, not as I do. With Timmy's additional power, we are doomed as doomed can be.

[twmorganstern]

04:06 PM on 07/18/2010

When he was first approached by the Obama administration, they asked him if he could handle this current crisis. He smiled and pulled open his suit and shirt to reveal a big red letter S. The letters they didn't see were TFU...

[laaambchop]

08:50 PM on 07/18/2010

laughing hysterically

[Tom Payned]

03:35 PM on 07/18/2010

Now that we know this is a Geithner bill, we know it's yet another toothless but well sounding/named bill that President Obama will trumpet as "real & meaningful reform" but in the end, protects big moneyed interests.

We can now accept that the person with any chance of making the CPA worthwhile, Mrs. Warren, will never get that position. Instead it will be filled by some Wall st or banking hack who will allow regulations to be optional.

The more I watch the man I voted for, pick agency & department heads, the more my disappointment in Change we can believe in grows.

The President promised us a new breed & fresh faces in positions of authority. Instead, it's just more of the same. Clinton/DLC retreads & Bush holdovers.

2010 is going to be a bad year, but if things continue as they are now, 2012 will be apocalyptic.

Obama will mainly have himself to blame. His poor negotiating style of concessions without a quid pro quo, & his choice of people like RhamNO, Geithner, Summers, Salazer, et al, will far out weigh the obstruction of the GOP.

Obama never used the bully pulpit to make it clear to the senate he'd veto bills that didn't contain the elements the Dems were voted in on, thus making the GOP have to take floor votes, not just threaten filibusters. You get them on record for campaign ads.

Obama got nothing for all of his sell outs. Sadly, the house will pay.

[twmorganstern]

04:13 PM on 07/18/2010

For what it is worth, I feel your pain. The state of our federal government makes me feel sick in my heart. From now on I am reserving my vote for serious people. Unfortunately I only have politicians to choose from. Voting is like being able to choose the position you are going to be raped in. For a fleeting moment you may feel grateful for having a choice but in the end there is only one inescapable conclusion. You are getting f#*^ed.

[Greg2000]

10:20 AM on 07/19/2010

I couldn't say it better.