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June 19, 2013
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 Geithner Urges ‘Fundamental Reform’ in BailoutPosted on Jan 21, 2009
It’s the first full day of Obama’s administration and things are looking a bit different in D.C. Treasury secretary nominee Timothy Geithner called for “fundamental reform” of the $700 billion bailout, claiming the existing bailout package favored big business over struggling families.
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By californiadreamer, January 23, 2009 at 2:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
If the new administration is going to try to play both ends against the middle, we are going to see more of the same. If lobbyists are allowed to continue to influence government policy, then big business will continue to dominate our society. We the people need to show the elected officials that our votes are worth more to them than all the fundraising money they get from the lobbyists. When this happens, when a few more politicians get the boot because they are too beholden to special interests, then the true special interests of our nation, the people, will be represented as they should be in the corridors of power.
Report thisBy Don Knutsen, January 22, 2009 at 2:19 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
What am I missing here ? The Banks have taken 350 billion of the taxpayer’s money, they are screaming for the other half of the 700 billion and the treasury sec. can’t tell us how it was spent. The banks have taken this money and are putting it in their cash reserves instead of what it was supposedly for to help the housing crisis ? Whats going on ? Why can’t these CEO’s be grabbed by the shirt caller, made to return this revenue and incarcerated for stealing the taxpayers money ? What am I missing here ? This appears to be nothing more then the last attempt to fleece the treasury before going out the door. Untill we start tossing these greedy bastards in jail it will obviously continue, starting with Paulson.
Report thisBy Eric L. Prentis, January 22, 2009 at 9:34 am Link to this comment
Bankers, politicians and regulators form one big, incestuous, stinking cesspool. The people elect politicians and hire regulators to look after their interests and what do we get, SCREWED by the bankers. Now that the bankers have totally messed up, the slimy-on-the-take politicians fall all over themselves to appoint tax scofflaw and the-banker’s-banker Mr. Geithner to be Treasury Secretary to go on legally stealing trillions of taxpayer dollars to bailout his crooked Wall Street cronies. President Obama should be ashamed. No “bad-asset” bank, no dividends, no bonuses, force the rich pay for their own debacle.
Report thisBy libertarian, January 22, 2009 at 9:14 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I listened to the Geithner testimony for an hour yesterday. This guy couldn’t give a straight answer to a question if his life depended on it. The new President is making a huge mistake with this appointment.
Report thisBy C Kirshner, January 21, 2009 at 11:37 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hemi, those posts of yours are too much but I do think you nailed this guy. How is that more than half the senate does not see what we do?
Report thisBy Shift, January 21, 2009 at 7:31 pm Link to this comment
Geithner is clearly lying. If Obama believes in ethics he would decouple from Geithner. If Obama really wants to reestablish trust in Government, he would ask Geithner to step aside. Words and deeds that are consistent builds trust. Inconsistencies fuel skepticism. I remain a skeptic but sincerely wish it were otherwise.
Report thisBy Hemi*, January 21, 2009 at 3:30 pm Link to this comment
Wait, wait, wait just a minute. This story just got a lot better folks.
Ass-clown…....errr….... Treasury Secretary nominee Geithner has claimed he uses Intuit’s Turbo Tax software for his tax returns. The 9th president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as well as Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee (What kind of bullsh*t NWO circle jerk is that?) has to use OTC software to do his taxes? And Barry thinks this guy is capable of running the IRS? You are f*cking kidding me, right? Whaaaaa ha ha ha, oh stop it, that’s too funny. One day into Obama’s term and this. $1.2 TRILLION!!! Whaaaaa ha ha ha! The incompetent tax dodger running the IRS, that is precious. Here, let me bend over and make it easier on everybody! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!! Who thought getting screwed could be so much fun? Here’s the capper (and you thought it couldn’t get better!) Intuit’s stock went into the crapper immediately after Geithner’s statement. Whaaaaa ha ha ha! He’s hurt the economy without being confirmed! Whaaaaa ha ha ha! Silly me, I thought the Bush gang sucked!
We should feel very comfortable with BO at the helm.
Report thisWhat’s that? Eric Holder? Whaaaaa ha ha ha! Stop it, I think I wet my pants!
By boyndog, January 21, 2009 at 2:09 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Ed—you da man! We went the ‘traditional’ route with the first 350 billion—shoveling it into the black hole that is the banking industry. No way to track where the money went (including, say, offshore accounts), how it was being used (including, say, as part of a war chest to buy competitors as they die). Wow. That was a great idea. If the past weeks are to offer any clue, the avowed purpose—to get credit flowing again—was perhaps the last thing in the banking industry’s mind as they ‘cashed’ the check.
Indeed, time has come to solve this problem from the bottom up. Water the roots this time, not the leaves (my gardener friends insist that watering the leaves rarely does any good to the plant in question). Putting the money into the hands of the debtors—with very specific guidance and penalties re said money (as in it goes to your creditors; buy a big screen tv with the money and you’re in trouble)—would be far more likely to get the desired results: bad loans made to go away, a bit of breathing room for all concerned and significant monies in the hands of the banks and credit card companies and mortgage companies even (that they might could use to, um, free up additional credit—‘might’ being the operative word here).
Throw in some radical rule changes to how these companies dangle credit in front of people (those zero percent interest checks need to be outlawed), make learning how to responsibly use credit part of the process of getting said credit and who knows—we could even come out of this morass better than where we started.
Report thisBy Hemi*, January 21, 2009 at 12:54 pm Link to this comment
“Ugh bailout bad, families gooooood!”
Couldn’t they come up with a better friggin’ lie for this shyster? “Fundamental reform”? This is just bullsh*t. Obama is ready to ram through more national debt and this guy is his lackey. As soon as this ass-clown is confirmed he will be jamming another portion of the bailout down our throats without the same reservations he’s showing now. Treasury secretary and he couldn’t hide his own tax evasion? This was the best scumbag (they’re all scumbags) available?
Look at it this way; at least we’ll all be sitting in the front seat when we slam into the bridge abutment. It’ll be a quick death, no agonizing injuries. And for our sake make it a 1970’s V8 muscle car, no hybrid eco-coffin please.
Report thisBy felicity, January 21, 2009 at 12:06 pm Link to this comment
As I read this article, it’s not what Mr. Greithner said, it’s what he didn’t say - namely that where and/or to whom the original tax-payer funds went have to be investigated. (And, of course, {this’ll be the day} any monies going to other than where they were supposed to go must be returned to us.)
The cynic in me says that now that Greithner’s cohorts, and perhaps he personally, have taken their cuts, he’s all gung-ho for the government to regulate the further dispostion of its funds. Too transparent to even be clever.
Report thisBy Ed Harges, January 21, 2009 at 11:36 am Link to this comment
As long as Uncle Sam is going to give away zillions, it should go directly to debtors, to pay off the “bad” loans or at least guarantee them, like parents co-signing a loan for their kid to get a car.
The banks complain that they can’t lend because of all these “bad loans” on their books. Well, if the government guarantees or pays off the “bad loans,” then the loans aren’t bad any more; banks will be solvent, and they will feel safe to start lending again.
What we’re doing now is throwing money at the banks, and just hoping they’ll use it to make loans, while not requiring that they use the money in any particular way at all. It’s crazy.
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