**** Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Press Conference*****

[slipslidingaway]

begins soon.

Dodd speaking now.

[angrycarpenter]

1. That man is scared to death.

not used to speaking in public.

[slipslidingaway]

5. Yes, does not look very comfortable n/t

[TornadoTN]

7. Makes you wonder if he's just not scared at what he knows

I know I'm scared to death of what I don't know amid this financial chaos.

[Purveyor]

9. The DJIA has dropped around 100+ points since he started talking.

[slipslidingaway]

18. Now down over 300, market hates uncertainty n/t

[eleny]

10. I imagine he's anticipating a question about his tax problem

But his mechanical speech pattern might put the press to sleep.

The wingnuts are going to be brutal.

[bdamomma]

2. is this being carried on C Span?

oops found it

http://c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx

[eleny]

3. yes

[bdamomma]

4. found it thanks

[slipslidingaway]

6. Thanks for the cspan link :) watching on CNBC here. n/t

[slipslidingaway]

8. New website...

http://financialstability.gov/

"On Tuesday, February 10th, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will outline a comprehensive plan to restore stability to our financial system. In the address, Secretary Geithner will discuss the Obama Administration’s strategy to strengthen our economy by getting credit flowing again to families and businesses, while imposing new measures and conditions to strengthen accountability, oversight and transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent. And Secretary Geithner will explain how the financial stability plan will be critical in supporting an effective and lasting economic recovery..."

[MrMickeysMom]

11. It is not up yet...

... but it hasn't crashed from all of us going there to view it, right?

[slipslidingaway]

13. Main page worked for me, but the fact sheet link does not open

yet.

[bdamomma]

12. thanks that website will be bookmarked.

watch the wingnuts go crazy and try to stop this plan too.

[slipslidingaway]

15. YW n/t

[eleny]

14. No Q&A?

:wtf:

[bdamomma]

16. apparently not.

[slipslidingaway]

17. And not many details either, Dow was down 80, now down 240. nt

[Subdivisions]

19. A big fat NOTHIN'! n/t

[slipslidingaway]

26. Still working on the plans :( n/t

[kentuck]

20. Why not have these bad banks declare bankruptcy?

and clear their books once and for all. The cities and states would take over the bad properties and homes and use them as they wish. They could rent them to their present owners or re-work their present mortgages. For some reason, I don't feel that Mr Geithner is going to get a kind ear from this proposal?

[slipslidingaway]

27. They want to preserve the private banking industry...

with some of our money.

:(

[slipslidingaway]

21. Fact sheet is now up...

7 page pdf

http://financialstability.gov/docs/fact-sheet.pdf

[chill_wind]

22. Thanks for heads up. K & R n/t

[slipslidingaway]

28. YW, Bernanke up this afternoon. n/t

[Spazito]

23. I've come to the conclusion that if the Stock Market doesn't like it....

it's probably good for the American public. The Stock Market likes layoffs, tax breaks for big corporations, taxpayer monies to be used for CEO bonuses, etc.

It seems from the sudden drop in the SE when Geithner was speaking, there isn't enough largess for the big guys.

[slipslidingaway]

29. That may be true, but then we have to remember the recent

lows in the market happened when Geithner was announced for Treasury Secretary and then with his anticipated confirmation.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=Geithner+bottom&fp=1

:shrug:

[Spazito]

32. It seems Geithner scares the crap out of the fat cats of the SE...

given the drop in the market when he was announced and then again today. It only reinforces my belief that he will be good for Main Street instead of Wall Street and that can only be a good thing.


The Stock Market is no indicator of the state of the economy, not even a little, imo.

[slipslidingaway]

33. Markets rallied on the Geithner news, DOW was up 622 points,

SPX was up 60 points...from low to high on 11/21/2008. That is why some have called it the Geithner bottom, will it hold is another question.

http://www.themoneyblogs.com/trading/market-moods/the-geithner-bottom.html

"The appointment of New York Fed President Timothy Geithner - "not Wall Street guy" - as Treasury secretary in the incoming Obama administration is this week's most compelling market mood match. The announcement, by many accounts, helped send the stock market soaring late in trading on Friday after two days of selling drove stocks to their most oversold levels since their last big one-day bounce a week ago. One Bloomberg reporter said there was cheering on the trading floor as the Geithner announcement dropped..."

[Spazito]

37. Your posts seem to be contradicting each other re SE being down/up re Geithner announcement...

One post says the market went down when Geithner was nominated and you included a link to google which goes nowhere but to the search feature then you post again saying the market went up with the same nomination with a link to a blog.

It seems, after doing a search, the market did go up on his nomination yet, once Obama's plan became public today, the DOW plummeted to -365.26(number quoted as at 3:30 est.

Again, it seems there is more in Obama's plan for Main Street and not for Wall Street.

[slipslidingaway]

38. My first post states that the recent lows were set when the market

learned Geithner would be nominated, some referred to "the low" as the Geithner bottom, that is why my search link went to articles that mentioned the Geithner bottom.

but then we have to remember the recent lows in the market happened when Geithner was announced for Treasury Secretary

My second post gave the rally numbers for 11/21/08 with a link to a blog mentioning the rally.

Sorry I did not explain it better.

My feeling is that the market sold off today because participants were expecting more details.

[Spazito]

39. Thanks for your response...

I don't disagree re lack of details but I think the bigger reason is because even in the bare bones Geithner did reveal, it would benefit Main Street more than Wall Street/banks.

Transparency is an anathema to both, imo.

[slipslidingaway]

40. Hope you are right and we'll find out eventually whether or not

the plan benefits MS or WS.

You're welcome.

:)

[MrMickeysMom]

24. To round this up, there was a good interview on Democracy Now! today...

... I caught the tail end. Amy Goodman was talking to James Galbraith, who has a book "The Predator State".

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) Galbraith said the only way to turn it around will be a litmus test (similar to the borrowed term Tim Geithner used, "stress test") to qualify banks for any solvency.

Same thing?

[slipslidingaway]

30. Thanks, I'll look at that later n/t

[slipslidingaway]

25. Being interviewed on CNBC, I'll look for the transcript / video

later.

[slipslidingaway]

31. Bernanke at 1:00 pm today, link...

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr021009.shtml

"Full Committee Hearing

An Examination of the Extraordinary Efforts by the Federal Reserve Bank to Provide Liquidity in the Current Financial Crisis


Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 1:00pm, 2128 Rayburn House Office Building
Full Committee


Click here to watch live webcast of this hearing.


Financial Services Committee to Hold a Hearing on Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis

Washington, DC – House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) today announced that the committee will hold a hearing, “An Examination of the Extraordinary Efforts by the Federal Reserve Bank to Provide Liquidity in the Current Financial Crisis” on Tuesday, February 10, 2009, at 1:00pm. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will testify.


Witness List & Prepared Testimony:

The Honorable Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Available Member Statements:

Printed Hearing:
The printed version of this hearing will be posted as soon as it is available."

[slipslidingaway]

34. What Geithner Still Needs To Do - Robert Reich

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/10/what_geithner_still_needs_to_do/

"Tim Geithner had to do two things this morning: (1) raise public confidence in the whole idea of bailing out the banking system, enough to allow the administration to use the second $350 billion Congress has already authorized without too much hollering on Capitol Hill; and (2) raise the confidence of capital markets sufficiently to get investors to buy the banks' toxic assets (with guarantees from the Treasury and loans from the Fed limiting the investors' downside risks), and to buy new securities that will finance loans to consumers, small businesses, and homeowners (also with some federal guarantees and loans limiting downside risks)....


....But achieving (2) presupposes there's enough private investment capital
still out there to do all this. But where is it? Some at Treasury tell me
that they're counting on hedge funds. But that's merely exchanging one
form of opaque financing (the old TARP) for another (hedge funds' black
boxes). It's a dangerous gamble because hedge funds could fall apart just
as quickly as other parts of the financial system have failed. Maybe they
already have, for all anyone knows. They're secret, remember?

Or maybe the additional financing will come from China, Japan, and the
Middle East. (It seems likely that some hedge fund financing is already
coming from rich Arabs.) But why exactly would Asia or the Middle East be
willing to commit even more money to the United States when they're
already nervous about their US loans and investments, and when their own
economies are under more and more stress?

Geithner was vague about all this, this morning. That's understandable.
But the vagueness works against him in terms of both objectives. The
public wants specificity in terms of where the second tranche of TARP's
$350 billion is going. More to the point, investors (whoever they are)
need lots of specificity before they're going to put up a single dollar."

[slipslidingaway]

35. Geithner Senate hearing today - 2:30 EST n/t

[slipslidingaway]

36. Watch the hearing live!

I have not tried their link...

http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=9c25b13a-bc33-468a-b548-6b5a9e108c47

Committee:
Title: Executive Session: Vote on the Committee budget Resolution, Nominations, and Oversight of the Financial Rescue Program: A New Plan for the TARP
Date: 2/10/09
Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Publication: Printable Hearing not available at this time


Member Statements


Witness Testimony

Panel 1

Honorable Timothy Geithner , Secretary, United States Department of the Treasury