The only thing more horrifying than not finding enough raisins in my muffin this morning is watching the House Committee interrogate Geithner and Bernanke as if they were raw meat thrown to wolves. Maybe the only benefit is that the whole world gets to see how what bullies those in positions of power can become — salivating rabid dogs is what I see and they should be put to sleep.
While I'm all for coming clean and getting the dirt on AIG and Goldman Sachs, the behavior of the committee members is all about listening to themselves talk, grandstanding and "gotcha" moments. No wonder we can't fill Cabinet positions. Who would possibly be up for a job that involves verbal waterboarding by people who don't allow you to complete a sentence or think through an answer or take a breath? If the positions were reversed, most of these interrogators would crumble. Just because you pause before you answer doesn't mean you're lying — rather, perhaps, that you're thinking before you open your mouth.
Is this what we've become? Is it all about getting someone caught in a lie and the aha moment when you make someone look like a fool? I, for one, am not good when confronted and asked to defend myself or come back with a quick answer and I've suffered from lack of the agile response because my brain doesn't work that way. I can't imagine the thoughts going through Tim's and Ben's brains but imagine them to be something like, "I need a drink" or "Who needs this job?" especially when stared down by these salivating not necessarily squeaky clean folks.
Do you think bullying is the example we want to set for our kids? All I ask is at the end of the sessions someone roll back the tapes and ask these wizards if their behavior is decent and fair, or, in fact, are they as embarrassed by watching themselves, as I am.
There's no gold medal awarded at the end for the best "gotcha" moment and I'd be careful if you're ever in the hot seat because you could be next. Bullies beware!!
Wow, since when does a blunder come 65 days into a job, while the same cynics allowed 4 years of continuous failures to occur with praise and support. This started decades ago, when we lost vision of our actual real economy, you remember the one that pays workers for actual work. Conservatives have effectively starved the working consumer base and Governmnent services by pandering the notion that, less governmnent regulations and less domestic investment in Americans is the key to economic growth, WTF! What exists in reality that can you neglect and not invest in and yet still legitimately expect to grow and prosper, NOTHING!, GM workers don't deserve the 55.00/hr they receive, but AIG execs must honor their contract obligations! WTF! This is conservative logic this is the ultimate classism pandered off as responsible economic theroy, this is the effect of a systemic cause that many people refuse to acknowlegde. The greatness of the country rests on the backs of the working class, we are not expendible everyone who profited off the mortagage ponzi scheme is expendible and should be systemically dispensed with. Why would any institution buy or sell a weak mortagage? DEREGULATION of consumer and investor protections. ( i.e GOP)
to make better men squirm.
I'm afraid some of our congressmen and senators have the same DNA. 'It' should not be about them, 'It' should be about all of us. Too much power makes some people very weak!
Their faux populist posturing is patently sycophantic.
:-)
It would be funny, except all I could think of was the lost time when Geithner and Bernanke could have been doing something productive instead of testifying in front of these grandstanding stooges about something that is a gnat relative to the total problem they need to address.
Most aggravating moment: Michele Bachman kept trying to imply the Fed and Treasury were acting unconstitutionally. Both Geithner and Bernanke kept explaining to her that the Congress had passed legislation that gave them the powers they were exercising. If she has a problem with their actions and those laws, she needs to challenge the laws in court and get a ruling. Harping during a committee meeting just won't cut it. Does she not understand how her job works?
Geithner refused to be lead on a wild goose hunt, which wouldn't serve any purpose but to provide cover for a politician who didn't do their homework, you can't fix this with an accounting rule change, or by allowing systemic bank failures, only a layperson or a partisan with an agenda would even suggest it. The Fed and Treasury's job is to protect the public from systemic risks to the system, to follow the political climate of cable chatter, would be a derelection of their responsibility, so what if a Senator from Minnesota doesn't fully understand the complexity of the systemic risk posed by this crisis, that can't change Giethner's responsibility to protect the public based on his expertise, regardless of how you rate that expertise, your not the President, the American people does not support your opinion as much a Pres. Obama's