The latest revelations about the New York Fed's actions in the AIG bailout make one thing clear: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner must go.
Geithner must go not just because of the emails showing that his New York Fed ordered AIG to keep details of the bailout secret, but because of many other decisions and policies he has championed in the past two years.
These decisions and policies have consistently put the interests of Wall Street ahead of the interests of the taxpayer, and they have undermined the public's confidence in the government at a time when the country needs it the most.
Tim Geithner's defense of his actions continues to be, in effect, "We had to do it or the world would have ended." This isn't good enough. It is also, at the very least, debatable.
It is true that Tim Geithner made many of his decisions in the midst of a crisis, and I do not doubt that his intentions were good and that he was doing the best he could. But this does not rinse his hands of responsibility for his decisions or their ongoing ramifications.
For five reasons, Geithner must go:
- Geithner was directly responsible for the most appalling corporate bailout in U.S. history, in which tens of billions of taxpayer dollars were secretly funneled to some of the richest corporations in the world. The terms of this bailout, and the associated cloak of secrecy under which it was conducted (the details of which continue to leak out) have hurt the public's confidence in the government.
- Geithner's ongoing decision to save banks at any cost was predicated on the theory that this would keep the banks lending. This policy has failed: The banks have not continued to lend. What the banks HAVE done is coin billions of dollars of profits risk-free at taxpayer expense, fueling even more public outrage.
- Geithner's policy of "too big to fail" has created a banking system whose bets are guaranteed by the US taxpayer, and it has distorted lending and market forces across the entire economy. This policy, which has now been all but written into the Constitution, is grossly unfair. Big banks can do whatever they want with no concern about the consequences; small banks have to hunker down or they'll get taken over and shut down.
- Geithner's role in the AIG bailout, which the current administration bears no responsibility for, continues to destroy confidence in his current boss, President Barack Obama. If AIG stays in the headlines, and Geithner does not accept responsibility for what happened. Obama's agenda and influence will continue to suffer.
- Geithner's consistent decision to put Wall Street first has helped fuel a populist rage that will make it very difficult for the government to do anything more to help the financial system. If the recovery continues, such help might never become necessary. If it falters, however, Geithner's policies will have severely curtailed the government's ability to do anything about it.
Those who know him say that Tim Geithner is a very good guy. He made the decisions above in the midst of a panic, and I have no doubt that he was trying to do the right thing.
But contrary to the revisionist history now being promulgated, these actions were not the only way out. They were grossly unfair to taxpayers, and they have undermined public confidence in the government -- and our current President -- at a time when the country needs it most.
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Second, this is not good, rather, its REALLY BAD.
Third, while the installation of Geithner, previous head of the all powerful New York Fed is an embarrassingly transparent action by an plainly arrogant Fed (in hearings and interviews, when asked pointed questions, key men like Bernanke, et al, have clearly felt comfortable telling the U.S. Congress to piss off-something that, in itself, cannot be allowed to continue - I mean, its a veiled soverignty issue, i.e., who is really in charge here...) that has had it all their way for FAR TOO LONG, other observations of posters here are pertinent too, i.e., if you get rid of Geithner, who is obviously a shill, who are you going to replace him with?
Another shill? Hmmmm?
For continuity, please refer to my previous statement citing Durbin's pointed observation, above.
Its naive to think that that will not occur. The Fed thinks it can do ANYTHING.
the nation needs to reclaim its financial sovereignty from this unconstitutional, sub rosa, arrogant, private organization that has controlled our money since around 1913, on which sit representative of the major banks, like Goldman Sachs.
For more information on this VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE, in which ALL AMERICANS, whether democrat, republican, progressive - WHATEVER - have a stake, go to www.realityunveiled.com. Important information for every American there.
LHJ
Geither needs to hang in there. He didn't do anything the rest of our leaders didn't do.
Let it play out.
http://yieldpig.blogspot.com/
Contrary to popular belief (in Wall Street), the "entire" financial industry consists of more than 6 banks.
I am thinking of The Warren Commission Report, the 9/11 Report and along same lines we will get the
AIG Investigative Report LOL.
I'd love to see Volcker get the job. I'm just not sure he's got the stamina at this point. He's in his 80's.
GEITHNER MUST GO! NOW!
I am sure you don't believe that this job can be done by anyone. Of all the cabinet posts, this is probably the one that requires the most in terms of "expertise" background - more than SecState or SecDef.
And there really is only a small pool of people who have the qualifications, in that regard. Stiglitz may be one. Volcker is certainly another.
But just because someone has been an academic economist, that doesn't give him the right background for the job. And I douvt someone with no little or no background in economics could even do the job. As much as I admire and respect Al Gore, for example, he just doesn't know enough about the arcana of that field to fill that position adequately, though he could certainly do a turn as SecDef or SecState.
So I'd say the "expertise" meme is a rational one here.
My prediction is Geithner's gone before the mid-terms.