Trouble at Treasury

[Crewleader]

Geithner Gets the Keys to the Henhouse
Trouble at Treasury

By MIKE WHITNEY

The Obama Team has a big problem on its hands; Timothy Geithner. Geithner was picked as Treasury Secretary because he is a trusted ally of the big banks and has a good grasp of the intricacies of the financial system. The problem is that Geithner can't handle the public relations part of his job. His big debut in prime-time last Tuesday turned out to be a complete dud. He was thoroughly unconvincing and looked like a nervous teenager at a speech contest. He fizzled on stage for 25 minutes while the little red box in the corner of the TV screen--which shows the current Dow Jones Industrials--plummeted nearly 400 points. It was a total disaster and one that is sure to be repeated over and over as long as Geithner is at Treasury. Not everyone can be a charismatic orator like Obama and nothing short of a personality transplant will fix Geithner. He lacks gravitas and doesn't inspire confidence. That's a problem since, the administration's main objective is to restore public confidence and get people spending again. They're just shooting themselves in the foot by using him as their pitchman. Eventually, Geithner will either have to be tossed overboard or strapped to Obama like a papoose so he can share in the president's popularity. Otherwise he will continue to be a millstone.

In truth, Geithner did us all a big favor on Tuesday by exposing himself as a stooge of the banking industry. Now everyone can see that the banks are working the deal from the inside. Geithner has assembled a phalanx of Wall Street flim-flam men to fill out the roster at Treasury. His chief-of-staff is lobbyist from Goldman Sachs. The new deputy secretary of state is a former CEO of Citigroup. Another CFO from Citigroup is now assistant to the president, and deputy national security adviser for International Economic Affairs. And one of his deputies also came from Citigroup. One new member of the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board comes from UBS, which is currently being investigated for helping rich clients evade taxes. The Obama White House is a beehive of big money guys and Wall Street speculators.

The banking lobby has already set the agenda. All the hooplah about "financial rescue" is just a smokescreen to hide the fact that the same scofflaws who ripped off investors for zillions of dollars are back for their next big sting; a quick vacuuming of the public till to save themselves from bankruptcy. It's a joke. Obama floated into office on a wave of Wall Street campaign contributions and now it's payback time. Prepare to get fleeced. Geithner is fine-tuning a "public-private" partnership for his buddies so they can keep their fiefdom intact while shifting trillions of dollars of toxic assets onto the people's balance sheet. They've affixed themselves to Treasury like scabs on a leper. Geithner is "their guy", a Trojan Horse for the banking oligarchs. He's already admitted that his main goal is to, "keep the banks in private hands". That says it all, doesn't it?

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney02182009.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. I am gonna say it again:

Mike Whitney is like a sawed off shotgun with a 6-inch barrel. Sometime he works as intended, sometimes it's just noise and flames and little effect.

I am sure that Cockburn, who thinks Trotsky was a moderate, winds Whitney up real tight before he turns him loose.

[Metta]

2. Yes, he's clearly been a stooge for them all along. Plus, he acts dishonest before the cameras.

Happy karma, Tim, all those folks who are laughing up their sleeves and, sadly to say, Barak Obama who is clearly part of the problem with picks like this, like Daschle and like those crooks he has in intelligence.

A grand opportunity wasted. A fraud?

[jtbrick]

3. Wow this guy is a bit harsh!

I wonder who he voted for?

From the article


"It's a joke. Obama floated into office on a wave of Wall Street campaign contributions and now it's payback time. Prepare to get fleeced. Geithner is fine-tuning a "public-private" partnership for his buddies so they can keep their fiefdom intact while shifting trillions of dollars of toxic assets onto the people's balance sheet."

Was he a McCain guy or what.

[grantcart]

4. welcome to DU from Carlsbad

counterpunch is a far far left column that basically is 100% against Democrats because we are seen as collaboraters to a failed system.

Generally speaking they are not that welcome here.

[Crewleader]

5. I believe he voted for Obama

[slay]

7. I like that liberals will call bullshit on the Democrats

when they screw things up. Counterpunch is a very liberal website and has lots of good articles. Some people will bitch and moan and go - oooh they are too liberal or about how they don't always fall in line with mainstream democrats. I think that's a good thing - just because someone says they are a "democrat" doesn't automaticlly make them good - the party of "yes men" is the republican one.

As far as for is this guy a McCain guy - definatly not. He either voted Obama or more liberal probably. I'm not convinced Obama isn't really just looking out for the elite and the rich corporate fucks (way more than the rest of us) at this point - it looks like he is, but I'm trying to give him a chance.

At any rate - welcome to DU jtbrick! :hi:

[jtbrick]

10. I don't think I called B.S.

I just opined that this guy seemed a bit harsh. Maybe I didn't understand the rules, I thought President Obama was a Democrat.

[slay]

12. I didn't say you did - this guy who wrote the article did

bout Gietner or however you spell it - too lazy to check right now. Obama is a democrat, but that doesn't mean other people who voted for him won't disagree with him. That is what I see to be a big difference in the republican party and the democrats. Democrats (or people who voted for Obama) will openly question him whereas Bush voters tended to worship everything he did, never questioning, kind of like a cult - and we all saw how well that turned out. doh.

That's the only point I was trying to make. As far as the writer for the counterpunch piece being a bit harsh - i guess that all depends on your definition of harsh. ;)

[DemReadingDU]

15. Try to find some older Whitney articles

He was harshest tearing apart Bush

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. Hello San Diego and welcome to DU!!

.
.
.

I lived in your great city from 79 - 80

Mission Valley, National City, Chula Vista, Bonita, Black's Beach were just a few of my habitats and haunts

be good. and enjoy your stay

I did!

[jtbrick]

11. Nice, I'm actually in Arizona for awhile

but I still have my place in Kenora, I get up to the lake every summer. If you get by Yellow Bird, say hey. The San Diego place is on the market, but you know how that goes right now.

[defendandprotect]

6. But seriously, how do you sell another $2-3 TRILLION on top of $8.3 TRILLION bailouts -- ???

Let's NATIONALIZE these banks -- and run them as real competition for the private banks!

They could also take over the unemployment benefit debit cards !!!

[MarjorieG]

8. From people we like, this is a long term, 10+ yr global nightmare. Yes, we're careful.

We also put a face on that banks trust, like Geitner. When he calls for stress tests beore deciding how to proceed, that's prudent and looking out for us. Our hiccup reverberates world-wide. Geez...

[leftofthedial]

13. I trust Geithner (and his puppetmaster Summers and their puppetmaster Rubin)

about .001% more than I trusted Paulson.

[truedelphi]

14. Been saying similiar things about Geithner ever since another DU'er

Told me he thought that Geithner, Summers, Rubin Gensler et al should be swinging from trees.

You don't hire an arsonoist to be a fire marshall simply because the arsonist understands fire.