{"id":184541,"date":"2010-01-14T11:21:16","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T16:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nw0.eu\/2010\/01\/14\/drumbeat-to-boot-geithner-gets-louder-on-eve-of-hearings-on-disastrous-economic-crash.html"},"modified":"2010-01-14T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T16:21:16","slug":"drumbeat-to-boot-geithner-gets-louder-on-eve-of-hearings-on-disastrous-economic-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/184541","title":{"rendered":"Drumbeat to Boot Geithner Gets Louder, on Eve of Hearings on Disastrous Economic Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

Danny Schechter
\nAlterNet<\/a>
\nWednesday, January 13, 2009<\/p>\n

When a pitcher gets tired, starts throwing walks or being hit, most
\nattentive managers take him out of the game. When policies break down,
\nas in the case of the security system that failed to spot the alleged
\nChristmas bomber, the president starts talking tough about the buck
\nstopping here and orders to straighten out a failed system.<\/p>\n

But when tens of thousands of workers, once again, lose their jobs,
\nthe people responsible get winked at, not wanked. The president is
\ncontrite, his rhetoric subdued, even as the recovery he keeps talking
\nabout goes south.<\/p>\n

Yes, there needs to be a cabinet shake-up. It\u2019s time to yank
\nTreasury Secretary Timothy Geithner from the game, along with economic
\nadviser Larry Summers. Their pro-bank, pro-Wall Street policies are
\nfailing. Isn\u2019t it obvious? According to an AP investigation,
\ntheir road construction projects have had no impact on the jobs crisis.<\/p>\n

The establishment will lean toward a Republican to replace him like
\nFDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, who has proven to be far more competent and
\noutspoken than her counterparts.<\/p>\n

Geithner acts like a stalking horse for the people responsible for
\nthe meltdown. It\u2019s time to say sayonara, and appoint someone who
\nhas the people\u2019s interests at heart. There is no shortage of
\ncapable and committed Democratic economists who can replace him. How
\nabout Elizabeth Warren or Joe Stiglitz or Brooksley Born or Simon
\nJohnson or even, for op-ed\u2019s sake, Paul Krugman?<\/p>\n

Even Wall Streeters know Geithner is a dead man walking. Bruce Krasting, a foreign exchange and derivatives veteran writes on Naked Capitalism.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Tim Geithner has outlived his usefulness. He is too
\nconnected to the bailouts of \u201808. Bear, Lehman, AIG, TARP and
\neven QE are all part of his legacy. That makes Tim a lightening rod.
\nToo many Americans hate that part of our history.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the current flap relating to the deliberate
\n\u201cnon-disclosure\u201d of information relating to AIG is that big
\na deal. When the full history of this period is finally told (it will
\ntake a while yet) this particular transgression of Mr. Geithner will
\nlook small by comparison. The things that we do not yet know about that
\nwe \u201cagreed to\u201d during the \u201ccrisis period\u201d are
\ngoing to cause us to roll our eyes and bow our heads when all is said
\nand done.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now, there will be hearings to see what Tim knew and when he forgot
\nhe knew it. Market Watch says he is \u201cankle deep in the AIG
\nquicksand.\u201d A deceptive defense is being crafted, as Bloomberg
\nreports:<\/p>\n

\n

Timothy Geithner<\/a>,
\nthe former Federal Reserve Bank of New York president, wasn\u2019t
\naware of efforts to limit American International Group
\nInc.\u2019s  bailout disclosures because the regulator\u2019s
\ntop lawyer didn\u2019t think the issue merited his attention,
\naccording to a letter sent to lawmakers. \u201cMatters relating to AIG
\nsecurities law disclosures were not brought to the attention of Mr.
\nGeithner,\u201d Thomas Baxter, general counsel of the New York Fed,
\nsaid today in a letter to Representative Darrell Issa, a
\nCalifornia Republican. \u201cIn my judgment as the New York
\nFed\u2019s chief legal officer, disclosure matters of this nature did
\nnot warrant the attention of the president.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why is the media so quiet on the Geithner front? Cenk Uygur wrote about how right-wing channels are giving him a pass:<\/p>\n

\n

If it was anyone else that had screwed up one tenth of
\nwhat Geithner has, it would be running on a 24\/7 loop on Fox News.
\nGeithner gave away<\/a>
\nover $62 billion to the top banks in the country in secret, tried to
\ncover it up and at the very least overpaid these banks by $13 billion.
\nAnd that\u2019s just the latest in a series of scandals<\/a>, with all the same theme\u2014Geithner gives away taxpayer money<\/a> to the richest (and most culpable) guys in the country. Ah, there it is.<\/p>\n

If the right-wing goes after Geithner, then they\u2019re going
\nafter the banks and the billions in taxpayer money they received. The
\nright-wing media in this country have no interest in attacking big
\nmoney, big corporations or big banks. So, while they\u2019ll talk
\nabout how Janet Napolitano should be fired for misspeaking for 10
\nstraight days, Geithner is remarkably bulletproof. Why? Because they
\nactually love what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And now the White House has joined the cover-up. Read this exchange
\nbetween CNN\u2019s Ed Henry and Obama news flack Robert Gibbs and weep:<\/p>\n

\n

Q: Robert, does the White House believe that Secretary
\nGeithner should testify on the Hill, turn over any documents he has, to
\nsort of clear this up?<\/p>\n

GIBBS: Ed, I\u2019d point you to the Treasury Department. I\u2019m
\nsure you\u2019ve already talked to them. Secretary Geithner was not
\ninvolved in any of these emails. These decisions did not rise to
\nhis level at the Fed. These are emails and decisions made by
\nofficials at an independent regulatory agency\u2014<\/p>\n

Q: But how do you know that he wasn\u2019t involved? He was the leader of the New York Fed.<\/p>\n

GIBBS: Right, but he wasn\u2019t on the emails that have been
\ntalked about and wasn\u2019t party to the decision that was being
\nmade.<\/p>\n

Q: Well, Republican Congressman Issa says there are probably
\nthousands of more emails and he may not be on some that some people
\nhave looked at. In the interest of transparency would the White House
\nwant more\u2014I mean, you run AIG now, essentially\u2014<\/p>\n

GIBBS: I would point you to the Department of Treasury, which I think will tell you that\u2014<\/p>\n

Q: But what does the White House believe?<\/p>\n

GIBBS: I just gave you what the White House believes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What should we believe? Perhaps another investigation that gets
\nunderway this week may offer some answers. Its lacks the power and zeal
\nof the independent Pecora Commission appointed by FDR to probe the
\ncauses of the Crash of \u201829, but it will at least raise some
\nquestions. It is, unfortunately, modeled on the 9\/11 Commission that
\nwas subverted by the Bush administration and ended up raising more
\nquestions than it answered.<\/p>\n

Reports the New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

The commission, comprising six Democrats and four
\nRepublicans, has summoned four heads of big banks to testify on
\nWednesday at the panel\u2019s first substantive hearing: Lloyd C. Blankfein<\/a> of Goldman Sachs<\/a>, Jamie Dimon<\/a> of JPMorgan Chase<\/a>, John J. Mack<\/a> of Morgan Stanley<\/a> and Brian T. Moynihan<\/a> of Bank of America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a deep hunger out there, on behalf of the American
\npeople, to understand what happened,\u201d the commission\u2019s
\nchairman, Phil Angelides, said in an interview on Friday. \u201cIt
\narises out of anger, confusion and anxiety about their own future. This
\nwill be, in a real sense, the only public forum for examination of this
\ncrisis.\u201d Writes columnist Frank Rich, \u201cAmericans must be
\ntold the full story of how Wall Street gamed and inflated the housing
\nbubble, made out like bandits, and then left millions of households in
\nruin.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But the Times<\/em> also reports that the banks and their
\nlobbying arms have been working overtime to prepare testimony that will
\ndefect all the blame away from them. Will the commission and the media
\nchallenge this disinformation? \u201cBank employees worked through the
\nholidays preparing testimony and drawing up potential questions that
\nwill be asked of their chiefs. The hearings will occur in the middle of
\nthe 2009 bonus season, and executives are bracing for questions about
\nthe paychecks that many firms will dispense.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are also excitedly awaiting their latest round of bonuses, an
\nannouncement likely to stir pubic anger given that CEOs now make, on
\naverage, 245 times the annual wage of most workers. Bill Moyers reports
\nthey have set aside $200 billion to reward themselves.<\/p>\n

And so it goes. Will the truth ever come out? Will the folks who
\nscrewed up our economy\u2014in the government and on Wall
\nStreet\u2014ever be held accountable? We seem to be in the ninth
\ninning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

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Danny Schechter AlterNet Wednesday, January 13, 2009 When a pitcher gets tired, starts throwing walks or being hit, most attentive managers take him out of the game. When policies break down, as in the case of the security system that failed to spot the alleged Christmas bomber, the president starts talking tough about the buck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2604,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2604"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}