Geithner’s New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure

[ozymandius]

Source: Bloomberg

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer’s payments to banks during the depths of the financial crisis, e-mails between the company and its regulator show.

AIG said in a draft of a regulatory filing that the insurer paid banks, which included Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA, 100 cents on the dollar for credit-default swaps they bought from the firm. The New York Fed crossed out the reference, according to the e-mails, and AIG excluded the language when the filing was made public on Dec. 24, 2008. The e-mails were obtained by Representative Darrell Issa, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The New York Fed took over negotiations between AIG and the banks in November 2008 as losses on the swaps, which were contracts tied to subprime home loans, threatened to swamp the insurer weeks after its taxpayer-funded rescue. The regulator decided that Goldman Sachs and more than a dozen banks would be fully repaid for $62.1 billion of the swaps, prompting lawmakers to call the AIG rescue a “backdoor bailout” of financial firms.

“It appears that the New York Fed deliberately pressured AIG to restrict and delay the disclosure of important information,” said Issa, a California Republican. Taxpayers “deserve full and complete disclosure under our nation’s securities laws, not the withholding of politically inconvenient information.” President Barack Obama selected Geithner as Treasury secretary, a post he took last year....

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXIvW4igKV38

---

Again, I ask, why is this man still Treasury Secretary? According to this report, Geithner is a thief and a liar.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. He's A Good Earner nt

[pundaint]

103. too funny

[Celebration]

2. worst.appointment.ever n/t

[madrchsod]

4. he`s rahm`s boy....

is`t it about judgement?

[clear eye]

9. No, he's Austan Goolsbee's & Rubin's "boy". n/t

[natrat]

13. he's the junta's boy

[clear eye]

16. Touche'. n/t

[flyarm]

93. No he is Obama's boy! And Kissinger's boy!!

Obama's momma worked for and with Geithner's dad with the Ford foundation in Indonesia!

go look it up!

oh and he is Kissinger's boy...look that up too!

and who did Obama send out representing his admin shortly after taking office..Kissinger..Obama sent Kissinger to Russia representing his admin!

how does that warm your hearts??

Kissinger..the Butcher of Cambodia!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have posted this before..

and who is this administration working with??

Kissinger

Geithner..who worked for Kissinger and the CFR

Geithner..who's papa Peter F.Geithner was with the Ford Foundation and Obama's mom just happened to work with him!!

Any wonder why the GM CEO was made to step down..the very day that Ford announced it was opening a plant in Mexico..the znnouncement took place at the Pres of Mexico's palace..and do not miss the very fact that the CEO of Ford said : Mr Mullaly said: "We are convinced the geographic location as well as Mexico's highly qualified labour force and economic stability make this decision the right one for our business."

That would be 4,500 jobs Americans will not get!!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/742895...





Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once

Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.


Posted by flyarm in General Discussion
Tue Mar 31st 2009, 03:37 PM
ahhh this ought to warm a few of the hearts of US Union workers!!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/742895...

Ford to open new plant in Mexico


US giant Ford is to invest $3bn (£1.5bn) in a new car plant in Mexico, the biggest investment in the country's manufacturing sector.

The move is a blow to American car workers who had hoped the factory would be built in the United States.

Ford has lost more than $15bn (£7.5bn) over the past two years and says the new facility is crucial to its future.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon hailed the announcement as a "turning point" for his country.

The new factory, and other changes to Ford's Mexican operations, are likely to create an estimated 4,500 jobs in Mexico, where car workers earn substantially less than their American counterparts.

Mr Calderon made the announcement with Ford president Alan Mullaly at the presidential compound in Mexico City on Friday. "We want Mexico to be an automotive country, one that is competitive and with the most advantages so that the worldwide automotive industry will establish itself here," Mr Calderon said.

Mr Mullaly said: "We are convinced the geographic location as well as Mexico's highly qualified labour force and economic stability make this decision the right one for our business."

.........................................
edit to add ...Bet those last lines were made to just give warm fuzzies to American auto workers..but just ignore that ...what do we all care about American workers, when we are all getting that lovely $17 dollar tax break a month!!
.........................................

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

TIMOTHY GEITHNER

Biography

Early life and education
Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York.<2> He spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok.<3> He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.<4> He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985.<4><5> He has studied Chinese<4> and Japanese.<6>

Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908.<7> His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.<8> Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

Early career

After completing his studies, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988. He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).<5>

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.<5> Summers was his mentor,<10><11> but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.<11><12><13>

In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.<14> He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003) at the International Monetary Fund.<5>
In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<15> His salary in 2007 was $398,200.<16> Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.<17>









Report: AIG bailout money behind banks' recent profitability

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/...

snip:
The financial blog Zero Hedge has posted an "exclusive" that claims that according to an insider's account, AIG (yes, that AIG) "was responsible for the banks' January and February profitability."


Saying it is "rarely speechless," ZH offered "a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turns keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good."


ZH says the insider perspective came in an email from "a correlation desk trader." Unless you're a finance whiz (and who is these days?!) you might get lost in the explanation of how AIG supposedly engineered this feat of profitability. But ZH tries to explain the "mumbo jumbo" in "layman's terms":


AIG, knowing it would need to ask for much more capital from the Treasury imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the banks, and even more egregiously money losing to the U.S. taxpayers, who had to dump more and more cash into AIG, without having the U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner disclose the real extent of this, for lack of a better word, fraudulent scam.


In simple terms think of it as an auto dealer, which knows that U.S. taxpayers will provide for an infinite amount of money to fund its ongoing sales of horrendous vehicles (think Pontiac Azteks): the company decides to sell all the cars currently in contract, to lessors at far below the amortized market value, thereby generating huge profits for these lessors, as these turn around and sell the cars at a major profit, funded exclusively by U.S. taxpayers (readers should feel free to provide more gripping allegories).

....................................................................

[flyarm]

95. Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

and From an April post of mine here at DU: and please, don't believe me ...click the link..it was in the CFR publication!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009


Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009.

"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.


Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar ... ...

[truedelphi]

105. Next you will be advising us of

The Bilderbergers and their goings on.

Or maybe the videos from ALex Jones!

I used to watch Alex and laugh my butt off. But so much of what he has said would happen is happening.

And he knew right away about the Kissinger appointment!

[flyarm]

108. well I did way down this thread!! ..I wish i could laugh..but I am too broken hearted what has

happened within my party and my nation..and sad..sad for our children..sad for our constitution..sad for future generations..

My heart can barely handle any more anger ..but i can never be fooled again..

There are no two parties..only one big party, with one giant money pot in the middle ..and we the people are not invited to the Yacht and champange party!

[truedelphi]

109. You tried to put in a lot of time out on the actual campaign

Trail right? And saw how the candidates only wanted to hear from the folks with the thick check books...

I only laughed back when what Jones was saying had not yet come to pass. Now, like you say, it is just so painful.

[Name removed]

111. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[truedelphi]

128. It would be great if our leaders came from dedicated people like you.

The nepotism I see between Obama and Wall Street has made me sick.

How is it that his mom and Geithner's dad worked at the Ford Foundation together and now they are best buds, just a hallway apart from each other at the WH?

very scary world.

[mallard]

129. Re: party's over

"My heart can barely handle any more anger ..but i can never be fooled again."

Welcome to the Philippines ...



... and to a lot of other ... huge under-occupied populations around the world. You're not alone.

[wordpix]

118. oh, gawd, it gets worse and worse

[bvar22]

76. Geithner is Obama's boy.

President Barack Obama said he has “complete confidence” in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the furor over bonuses paid by American International Group Inc. shows the urgent need to overhaul financial market rules.

In the face of criticism of the Treasury secretary from Republican lawmakers, Obama said Geithner has been making “all the right moves” in dealing with the financial crisis and the situation surrounding insurer AIG.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPNnF.2ezVaY

"Heck of a Job, Timmy!"

[lark]

82. Obama's proven to be a good tool for Wall St.,

and a very poor tool for Main St. The question to me is why? Has he been coerced and made to continue to real status quo or was he all front to begin with?

[CoffeeCat]

94. That's the $64,000 question...

...that deserves its own thread.

Is Obama really a good and decent guy who wanted to truly change this country--but has found himself
crippled by the neocons and corporatists who really call the shots and appoint Geithner and others for Obama?

Or, has Obama been in on it from the get go, and was he just lying during the campaign?

I'd like to know the answer.

[bjobotts]

98. All that money and so little time.Rahm, Geitner are not good comany for Obama

[zeemike]

88. Or Obama's Geithner's boy.

It is all in who is pulling the strings.

[truedelphi]

119. Very reminiscent of the moment when Barack said

To Sixty Minutes interviewer in Late Nov 2008 that "Hank is working hard."

(By Hank he meant Paulson.)

And I knew right then and there, that the President Elect had made a deal or two.

And that deal did not involve honoring any major campaign promises to We the No Account People, but definitely to the Big Corporations.

[wordpix]

120. why aren't the likes of Elizabeth Warren put in Geithner's or Summer's positions?

Oh, yeah---she's a woman, I almost forgot. :puke:

[truedelphi]

122. Brooksley Born would be most excellent as well.

But like you say, she isn't part of the Big Boys' Club.

[Dr.Phool]

80. And somebody needs to lay him in Bernankes lap.

During his confirmation hearings. He was, after all, his boss.

[wordpix]

124. if you read the entire article + others, you see Bush was still pResident when emails were sent

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6074OJ20100108

snip: Geithner was president of the New York Fed at the time of the September 2008 bailout and when the email traffic started in late November 2008.

Republicans took advantage of the emails to bash Geithner's handling of the bailout, which has stoked rage over billions of dollars paid to banks and millions in bonuses paid to AIG executives after the insurer's near collapse. snip

Not sayin Timmy wasn't involved, but the buck stopped with BushCo in Sept-Nov. 2008 as the cards were falling

[wordpix]

125. forgot to add, aren't there rules about a regulator's contacts with those regulated?

:shrug:

[Blue_Tires]

126. +1

[clear eye]

3. Excellent question.

IOW, why is our Democratic President backing a ruinous transfer of the taxpayer wealth from the middle class to the ultra-wealthy by putting the people who engineered it in charge of the economy?

I keep hearing echoes of what Tony Blair did to the UK's Labour Party and the consequences for the citizenry there.

The cries of "Terror!" "Terror!" "Terror!" are being used to keep us off the streets (lest we get labeled and treated as such). That's why the Cheneys think it's so important for Obama to ratchet it up. Unions were kept in line in the past w/ red-baiting. Now they hope to use accusations of "terroist" the same way.

[nashville_brook]

5. so true.

[patrice]

61. Precisely correct.

[Suji to Seoul]

6. Is there anyway we can get right of this asshole?

[natrat]

14. um....the government is riddled with these cancerous crooks from the top down

like whack a mole ,,,another one will just pop up

[Suji to Seoul]

15. Like meth labs

[avaistheone1]

68. Get rid of Larry Summers too. Please.

[Freddie Stubbs]

85. He could be impeached and removed

[Bluenorthwest]

7. So Timmy is a mendacious and larcenous crook

And the 'God is in the mix' Christian President appoints this criminal between sessions with hate preachers attacking gay people for not being approved by the Bible. It gets tiresome.

[patrice]

62. Problem with that is that it isn't a mix.

Our leaders are idolatorous blaspheming hypocrits. And that truth is catching up with us now.

[jgraz]

101. The concept of "God" isn't intended for leaders. It's there to keep the rabble in line.

[BridgeTheGap]

8. Too big to fail = too big to LET fail = leave the fox in the henhouse! n.t

[valerief]

48. More like Too Bad To Fail. They're so bad, there's no room for good. nt

[mdmc]

10. Change

is all that you are left with once robbed by these bums..

[chimpymustgo]

22. +1. KnR.

[midnight]

11. K&R

[TornadoTN]

12. Another stellar day in "Hope & Change" land

People need to be raising hell about this and this guy needs to be sent packing. Get someone like Volcker in that spot.

[pjt7]

17. Geithner should have been rejected for not paying taxes

let alone sucking AIG off.

[DeadEyeDyck]

86. agree n/t

[wordpix]

121. +2 could not agree more!!!! Bad message to keep that liar as head of Treasury

[clear eye]

18. Screw Volcker. Make it Stiglitz or Roubini. n/t

[DonkeyHoTay]

20. Volcker "no thank you." Stiglitz or Roubini "yes, yes, yes!"

You almost gave me heart failure... until I re-read your post
title and realized that the punctuation was A PERIOD not a
comma!

We agree. Period.

[clear eye]

26. Edited to clarify.

Thanks for pointing out the ambiguity.

[TornadoTN]

27. Stiglitz or Roubini would be great

I'm pretty high on Volcker, because he seems to be pretty pissed off about the banks and is gung-ho about regulation and a return to the Glass-Steagal Act.


But I agree, Stiglitz or Roubini would be exactly what we need. Hell, Spitzer even....

[Myrina]

19. Fire him. Yesterday.

:mad: Why the hell is a Dem Administration chocked full of as many crooks as the Bush Administration was? We're supposed to be better than that.

[juajen]

57. My guess is that the "Chicago" machine is in control.

I really want us to succeed, but this is not looking good.

[Joanne98]

21. Aint' that something!

[change_notfinetuning]

23. The road to Hope & Change is paved with crime and business as usual. n/t

[AllentownJake]

24. Geithner isn't even a good fucking criminal

Is there anything to respect about this asshole.

[LiberalFighter]

25. He worked for Kissinger Associates? Red Light!!!

[DisgustedInMN]

28. Who exactly appointed this criminal to his position?

:shrug:

Thanks Barry, you're a fucking peach.

[still_one]

42. So now we are guilty before being proven. I am not saying he is or isn't part of this

but frankly, we should know the entire facts

[DisgustedInMN]

44. Considering what's at stake..

... we can't afford to "wait for all the facts." All that does is gives these pricks more time to fuck us over. I'm tired of the rigged game and don't have much left to lose. I'm tired of being lied to, ESPECIALLY by those who claim to be "on my side." I want the liars held accountable, NOW. If you don't mind getting screwed in the name of "being fair," enjoy.

[still_one]

46. I am just amazed at the lynch mob mentality, which historically is part of the country's history

I am not saying there shouldn't be an investigation, or even charges brought against those guilty, if crimes have been committed, I just think there should be a procedure

[DisgustedInMN]

51. Asked and answered. n/t

[still_one]

52. Anything coming from Darrell Issa, I want to know ALL SIDES, before I jump on the band wagon /nt

[amandabeech]

67. There is no procedure necessary for dumping cabinet secretaries.

All that has to be done is the President firing him.

[Dr.Phool]

79. Hell, Cheney fired their Treasury Secretary.

[lark]

83. The world economy has been taken down

but no crimes committed and nothing major needs to be changed - don't think so.

[flyarm]

110. Like all the "procedure" taking place about war crimes? and renditions? and Illegal tapping of our

Phones and allowing the illegal FISA shit? Like procedure that has Obama saying one thing on the campaign trail about Public Option ..and now fucking us over?..or letting the Poweder dry and not setting any damn tables..you mean that kind of Procedure??????? Or the procedure that took our tax dollars and the tax dollars of future generations to bail out wall street and banks too big to fail??????

You mean like procedures that had Kissinger.. WHOS NICKNAME IS "THE BUTCHER OF CAMBODIA" represent this administration going to negotiate with Russia??

nahhhhhhhh..i have had enough procedure to last me a fucking lifetime..while my democracy and constitution is shit all over by both parties and con artists!

[elias7]

66. Hmmm... seems like the same justification would work for torture and rendition

Don't lose your head, my friend...

[beltanefauve]

69. Barry?

Look, I am not an Obama apologist AT ALL, but your use of the name Barry is suspicious, as that seems to be the commonly-used moniker on the right-wing boards...

[DisgustedInMN]

90. Frankly ..

.. I don't give a damn if you are "suspicious." I was 6th CD Obama Delegate at the Caucuses here. I've carried more water for the man than I care to remember. In return, he's turned his back on Progressives. If he wants to regain MY respect and support he had better make some 180 degree turns in his actions REAL QUICK.

[Dr.Phool]

78. Bush appointed him to the Fed.

But he was slithering around with Larry Summers and Bob Rubin during the Clinton years too.

[ooglymoogly]

29. Fraud,duplicity and flim flam at the highest levels.

Whoodathunkit.

[clear eye]

114. Unprecedentedly HUGE "fraud, duplicity and flim flam". n/t

[Dinger]

30. Why Is arne duncan Still There?

Lots of shitty appointees in this administration. I'm sick of it.

[abelenkpe]

81. Indeed! I'm not sure who is a greater danger

to the country and it's future.

Would be overjoyed to see both of them go.

[QC]

31. How very, very hopeful and changealicious! n/t

[Dinger]

32. Kickin' For The Truth, Whatever Good That'll Do (nt)

[AngryAmish]

33. He pulled this crime AND HE WAS PROMOTED?

What sort of assholes do they think we are?

[liberation]

41. Given that they have had to pay exactly zero in terms of responsibility for the appointment...

... I think they are well past thinking we are assholes. More like stupid dumb fucks at this point in time. And giving the performance of the angry pom pom squad, I don't say I can blame them. In the end, as usual... the joke is firmly on us. Good grief,

[pjt7]

47. that's the ONLY way you get promoted

in our current criminal GOV system.

Let's cut this white-collar criminal loose & get in someone we can trust.

[postulater]

34. Geithner's not on my friend's list.

[yurbud]

35. Obama has to start clearing out the corporate trash or he'll be remembered as

one of our more corrupt or at worst inept presidents.

Fortunately, he has a long way to go to rival Bush, but that's like saying someone is kinder than Jeffrey Dahmer.

[FlyByNight]

36. Ah yes, more Beltway-style accountability

Doesn't Timmy have to spend more time with his family or something? Fire the corrupt bastard already.

So much for change.

:mad:

[blue97keet]

37. These payouts should have been front page news all along

, ahead of the bonusues. Where were the media on this?

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. Even more curious, it is ISSA who blew the whistle on this.

Guess this is the year the "good cop-bad cop" roles get reversed.

[still_one]

53. I would want to know the whole story, from ALL sides. I would NOT take issa's word on anything /nt

[DemReadingDU]

39. Ritholtz has emails!

1/7/10 E-mails from N.Y. Fed to A.I.G. to Not Disclose Counterparty Payments
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/01/e-mails-from-n-y-fed-to-a-i-g-to-not-disclose-counterparty-payments/

[Vidar]

40. K&R.

[SandWalker1984]

43. Why is Geithner still there? Perhaps Kissinger can answer you.

from
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/running-and-ruining-america-for-the-benefit-of-china/

Geithner’s “qualifications” include working for Henry Kissinger, elder statesman of the foreign policy establishment and now an adviser to corporations doing business in China, and serving as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he played a role in the Wall Street and other bailouts. Kissinger recently made headlines on CNBC by proclaiming Obama the architect of a “New World Order” and praising Obama’s appointments in the financial realm. Everybody knew that he was talking about his student, Geithner.

Geithner’s “international respect” comes from Kissinger and other global players in such organizations as the Group of Thirty and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which wield major influence over U.S. economic and foreign policy. Geithner is a member of both groups.

- snip -

AIG is perhaps the most interesting. This insurance giant was bailed out with taxpayer dollars after Paulson let Lehman Brothers go under. Geithner was a key player in the AIG bailout. His former boss, Henry Kissinger, was chairman of AIG’s International Advisory Board. Other members of the board represent Chinese and Arab financial interests.

But there was another reason that AIG had to be saved. The New York Times reported in a controversial September 27, 2008, article by Gretchen Morgenson that AIG’s collapse could have cost Paulson’s old firm, Goldman Sachs, as much as $20 billion.

************


Change, Mr. Obama?

[newspeak]

116. well, some would say we are tinfoilly

but, the NWO is real and those who scoff now need to know the game plan. Poppy mentioned the NWO before Kissenger. And, what is the NWO--could it possibly be an order where corporations, the top monied people basically control countries--where governments and the will of the people bow down to corporate interests, where there is no longer a democratic process.

Yeah, real tinfoil--but people like Poppy and Kissenger use the term so casually.

[MissDeeds]

45. It's hard to believe Obama is a good guy

when he surrounds himself with the likes of Rahm and Geithner. Basic ethical reasoning should have kept these slime-balls out of positions of authority in the administration.

[valerief]

49. Yeah, but when people bring that up, they're told they're BAD dems.

I'd rather be a good citizen than a good dem.

[pjt7]

56. BAD DEMS ignore common sense

& let the criminals do their thing.

[saracat]

73. It isn't hard. Its become impossible. There is no way he didn't know about this.

Rahm and Geithner were handpicked by Obama.He knew what he wanted.

[MissDeeds]

77. Bingo

The excuses are ringing hollow and wearing awfully thin.

[gateley]

100. Well said. nt

[debbierlus]

50. Obama's man. Not Rahms or anyone else. OBAMA.

He appointed him. Last time I checked, Rahm was not President.

And, RAHM is Obama's man as well.

[goforit]

55. Cut me some slack, Rahm is innocent of everything, eh? As he hides under his desk.

He a maffia boy and a wimp all in one. Just like Geithner

[fascisthunter]

63. very true

[livefreest]

54. the Democratic Party is slowly being taken over by wall street. i wonder if this may be one

the reasons Byron Dorgan and chris Dodd are leaving

[Enthusiast]

58. Nothing 'slowly' about it. nt

[Enthusiast]

59. Just as a reminder.

Here is Byron Dorgan in 1999. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veAOoQEy0PI

[flyarm]

99. slowly????? I don't think so! eom

[clear eye]

115. I've wondered the same about Dorgan. Links>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4212502&mesg_id=4212558

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7409331&mesg_id=7409331

Dodd had his own reasons/problems.

[wordpix]

127. Chris Dodd leaving b/c he is UNPOPULAR in CT - He just voted against drug reimportation!

He WAS a great senator but he has Incumbency Power Mania and his cozy deal with Countryside and involvement in the bank bailouts was just way over the top. He was way behind his likely repuke opponents by something like 30 pts. He saw the writing on the wall and got out with his nice pension plan.

[Enthusiast]

60. Can't we just

look forward?

[Nothing Without Hope]

64. He's a Goldman Sachs creature, always has been, and those who chose him

and keep him all know it. The corporatist priorities of all of these people are clear, and everything they do reflects them. I don't understand the wailing chorus of "But WHY?" coming from people reading about these latest "revelations."

Issa is so, so NOT one of the good guys, and I have to wonder if the corporatists have decided that the time has come to throw Geithner under the bus and blame him for all the money he has made them. Timely scapegoating to get the heat off Saint Obama and keep the ignorant, blind plebes from realizing he's a corporatist too. Geithner was, of course, chosen with full knowledge of what he is and would do, but maybe we will be seeing much more on how he single-handedly and evilly betrayed Obama's honest team of right-thinking do-gooders. Alternatively, Issa may be making a bid to discredit Obama and the Democratic party by revealing something of the scope of this criminal conspiracy to defraud the American people. Maybe both scenarios are operative.

[truedelphi]

117. Great post. n/t

[truedelphi]

131. Both Issa, Maxine Waters and Kucinich were battering away at the policies of

Paulson and Bernanke and Kashkari long before Geithner even entered the scene.

Issa may not be a Democrat, and I know little about him apart from his very good work on the same committtee that Kucinich has served on. (House Financial commitee or some such)

But he has been making a stink about the mess created by the Federal Reserve and Treasury before Obama was elected. It is impossible not to like things he has suggested be done, once you understand how giving the Bailout Monies to the Four Big Too Big To Fail crowd will bring about the continuance of the bankruptcy of Main Street.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows and all.

[AllyCat]

65. I have no love for the 'cons, but I'm glad to see one is pushing disclosure

We all know it's for political reasons, not ethical ones though. Where are the Dems on this? Protecting Geithner no doubt.

[Vermontgrown]

70. Thief and

a liar. Fits right in with the corrupt assholes in DC

[Robbien]

71. Here it is almost eight hours after release of the story and the WSJ, NYT and WaPo

are still silent on the issue.

Is it not any wonder there is little or no public sympathy for the plight of newspapers. A huge story such as this and the newspapers of record are deaf, dumb and blind.

[Octafish]

74. Any mention on ABCNNBCBSFoxNutNoiseworks?

More than half the nation gets its news from tee vee, from which springs the expression "Low Information Voter."

[earth mom]

72. Anybody else feel like Geithner just gave us all the finger?

:grr:

[lark]

84. NO - he gave us more than the finger

he was complicit in raping us and Obama is his enabler. Sad, very sad.

[tbyg52]

87. >>Obama is his enabler

I don't thing Obama's his "enabler" in the AA sense - I think it's even worse. I think Geithner is doing *exactly* what Obama wants done. We have been sold out to the corporations.

[flyarm]

96. anyone ever think..they are both being "HANDLED"??

and From an April post of mine here at DU: and please, don't believe me ...click the link..it was in the CFR publication!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009


Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009.

"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.


Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar ... ...

[slipslidingaway]

75. knr n/t

[totodeinhere]

89. Hello? President Obama? n/t

[kohodog]

91. Obama needs to unfriend Geitner and Emanuel

Hopefully emanuel will run for office and Geitner will succumb to this outrage.

[flyarm]

97. HE CAN'T ..think Bilderberg...n/t

[defendandprotect]

92. kick

[arcadian]

102. You can almost feel the "glee" they feel with this story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=388&topic_id=11168&mesg_id=11168

[truedelphi]

104. yes Geithner should be forced to hit the road, Jack.

But Obama has said repeatedly that the man is his friend. And Geithner in fact has his office just down the hall from the Oval Office.

He has lied repeatedly to Congress, which is an impeachable offense.

[democracy1st]

106. Goldman Sachs admin in tthe WH!

[wordpix]

123. that was pretty obvious from the beginning---same old same old from BushCo on

Time to clean house, Obama!

[omega minimo]

107. Why? Because Impeachment Was "Off The Table" and criminal behavior has become normal at that level.

[BigBearJohn]

112. Maybe he'll replace Geithner with Tony Rezko

(after he pardons him, of course)

[ozymandius]

113. The smoking gun in the AIG – Geithner cover up (in Geithner's own handwriting)

In then New York Fed president Tim Geithner’s own handwriting:

Note that there should be no discussion or suggestion that AIG and the NY Fed are asking to structure anything else at this point.

Let's see Geithner explain this under oath.

[pinniped]

130. It doesn't even matter if/when this tool steps down. He accomplished his mission.

Job well done.