Geithner Drops the F-Bomb! Reform Will Follow
I love it when executives drop the whole statesmanlike thing and get down to what really works: Force. The manipulation of fear. The exercise of power. And nothing establishes who's in charge more than a good display of old-fashioned, fist-in-the-face anger. And what conveys that best? Profanity.
Tim Geithner dropped the F-Bomb repeatedly the other day. And I think it's safe to say it's living proof that genuine regulatory reform is now on the way. The Journal writes:
In short, there's a new sheriff in town. And he's mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Isn't it about time? Couldn't these cats he's trying to wrangle testify until we enter into the next recessionary cycle? The downturn is easing. Bonuses are once again on the scene. The regulators have a million reasons why one aspect of the recovery plan suits them or not. Don't it make you want to say !@#$? And you can. If you're the boss."Mr. Geithner told the regulators Friday that 'enough is enough,' said one person familiar with the meeting. Mr. Geithner said regulators had been given a chance to air their concerns, but that it was time to stop, this person said...
Friday's roughly hour-long meeting was described as unusual, not only because of Mr. Geithner's repeated use of obscenities, but because of the aggressive posture he took with officials from federal agencies generally considered independent of the White House."
I can only imagine how shocked all the suits in that room must have been when their fellow suit dropped what were four if not ten-letter expletives. Unemployment? Okay. Inflation. Too bad, so sad. Foreclosures and bailouts? C'est la vie. But cursing?! Horrors! And in uniform, too! How... louche! One of the poor, offended regulators was obviously grossed-out enough to whimper to the Journal. You gotta love it.
I guess they'd better get used to it, too. According to 60 Minutes, Mr. Bernanke too isn't above slamming down a phone now and then on people who tick him off, and good thing, I say. When executives start being abusive, things get done.
It could be worse for the recipients of Geithnerian ire. When the young Augustus Caesar was just beginning the career path that ended up making him the best chief executive of all time, he found himself in the presence of a fellow-Roman who had for one reason or another genuinely ticked him off. He didn't discuss the matter. He didn't politely reprimand him. He simply reached out and plucked the guy's eyeball out of head. Then he let him go.
Times have changed since then, but not quite completely, I guess. Which I think is good news for anybody who thinks we need to execute some changes around this place.
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Geithner has created a bigger monster if that was possible. When you spoon feed corporations billion dollar subsidies and Government loss guarantees of 23.7 trillion dollars, do you really expect them to listen to you?
No, no matter how times he drops 'the bomb', nothing will change. He needs to draft some real ideas for lawmaking. That is what changes the system. Not a teenage like tirade.
Geithner's swearing fit means nothing. His actions have shown he is a Trojan horse for the financial industry. He will have to prove he is more than that. No one is holding their breath. Geithner needs to demand transparency and accountability, otherwise, he is just a stooge for Goldman Sachs.
http://eye
Obama should name Peter Orszag Secretary of the Treasury..
Amazingly, our prez doesn't know anything about economics, and has to rely on the establishment to tell him everything, including who to hire.
and GWB did LOL? Any leader would have to rely on the staff especially as massive as this one. Besides, Obama has a good head on his shoulders and he has a vision and he is working thru it, step by step, but not fast enough for some of us.
not a bad idea, TJ
Whatever happened to 'democracy'?!?
Ronald Reagan..th
Bong, incorrect. Reagan was a leader in creating democracy. So was George Bush. Hundreds of millions of people have democracy that did not before. How many democracies have been created by Democratic presidents since WWII?
I have no idea if Mr. Geithner's tirade will amount to any positive change. I do, however, worry that President Obama is just too cerebral to get past the firmly entrenched establishment that is resisting reform - be it in banking or health care. It is true that Obama's cool is what defines him and got him elected, but he needs some enforcers. Emanuel was supposed to fill that role, but I have yet to see him flex his muscles, and the lack of any significant action from congress suggests that no one is cracking the whip. Maybe he's working it behind the scenes. I hope someone is.
Bad Faith..!
Oh, Rahm has flexed his muscles, but I suspect in support of the other blue dawgs.
The guy is NOT on OUR side, that's for sure.
So now red-faced anger and profanity laden tirades are the new face of Geithner?
Excuse me while I scratch my head. You know, one thing I had really liked about Obama is a cool, controlled and thoughtful approach to issues. I do not believe that on this high level of politics any knee-jerk reactions work.
I want to see somebody who can present a case clearly and thoughtfully, and who navigates the swamp that is Washington with skillful diplomacy. Geithner has not demonstrated that in the meeting, instead he throws away any goodwill or capital he may have had with those people in the meeting.
This isn't high school, there's an economy on the line. If we want an attack dog in meetings like this we should send Rahm and save the Geithner salary for better purposes.
Clearly NOT No Drama Geithner. Too bad this joker doesn't work for TV news or we'd be rid of him by now.
Nothing happening. Report it when it actually does, Talk is CHEAP!
@slowtono --- agree with you .... this article is just to help keep the pitchforks at bay ... no real change.
Mr. Geithner will have to do more than posture. The Wall St. casino is up and running again as if? Middle America is losing it. Fundamental restructuring to the economy is necessary now or the economy will stop functioning in less than 60 days. Put the Fed into bankruptcy protection; banks that qualify will join the U.S. National Bank. Credits and currency will be issued into the population's physical economy. A massive job mobilization project is necessary to create an economic recovery. Jobs and purchasing power will be introduced into the economy now. There are 12 million empty homes; Stop the foreclosures: enact the Homeowners and bank Protection Act. Terminate the HMO system; Re-enact the Hill-Burton Act, the general hospital system; the best healthcare system in the world. Expand Social Security and Medicaid. Start the construction of 100 nuclear generating and distribution systems; 100 water harvesting and distribution systems. Food, water, and energy production and distribution levels must be maintained at present levels and increased wherever possible. We have a crisis of contraction of production and economic activity: a threat to the population as all out war. Why is the political leadership so blind and indifferent?
When it comes to Geithner and all that he has been doing, I would have to say that it is the people who are blind and indifferent. They are certainly ill-informed about what the treasury secretary has been working to achieve...
What ClarcKing has written strikes me as EXTREME. And it also resonates with more sense than anything else I have read in a long while. We seem to be fiddling while Rome burns.
From Twitter: @timoreilly Aneesh Chopra at Churchill Club: on measures of global competitiveness: US leads on many static measures, but last on RATE of improvement
LAST on rate of improvement? We're treading water here.
It's not how big or how rich or how smart. It's how well you adapt...
Bonafida examples of how to offer millions jobs based on true economic and future needs. While hard to swallow in parts, you state it wll ClarcKing.
Geithner reminds me of Blackwater's Erik Prince ... for obvious reasons.
...very bad analogy...
what's the big deal?
I can do $!#*&$!% just fine. Nothing happens.
No problem at all. Does that make me the boss?
the fed is independant timmy is not their boss no matter how many tantrums he throws.
Stanley. Stanley. Stanley.
Do you REALLY think that you can translate that punchy-dude Geithner's little outburst into reader support for putting the Fed in control of not only THE FED, but everybody else?
Or, was that, as I hoped, some faint sarcasm on Geithner's cussin 'em up and down?
If it was the former, I think you MUST BE aware that fairly recently Geithner, in sworn testimony before the US Congress, stated that he was not a regulator - this despite some of those regulators he was cussing being under the roof of Treasury.
And that he had never been a regulator, this despite being the head regulator at our Central Bank, the NY Fed, for a number of years.
So, Geithner's problem is that he never knew he was a regulator, and thus did not see any need to recommend improvements in the regulatory structure of the financial services industry, both here and abroad.
It was Geithner who was, and remains, the biggest regulatory failure simply because he didn't know he was, and IS, a regulator.
Not surprising then, that while head of the NY Fed, in May 2007 he worked to REDUCE the capital requirements of all US banks.
This NYT article explains Geithner's outlandish proposal to have the government step in and formalize the taxpayers responsibility to pay off all those toxic assets.
http://www
Yeah, Geithner.
He's the guy to stick it those stupid regulators
Hey, joe, Mr. Bing is a hilarious writer, tongue planted firmly in cheek.
pheeeew !
thanks, WI.
I must be getting a little edgy.
I vote to bring back eye plucking..
One-eyed CEOs...hil
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