I need some help here. If Geithner is going to be Warren's boss,

[MineralMan]

who is Geithner's boss, I wonder? Anyone know the answer to that question? Who will say to Timothy Geithner, "Make it so, Tim. Make it happen?"

:evilgrin:

On Edit: :sarcasm: added.

[groovedaddy]

1. Goldman Sachs? n.t

[MineralMan]

4. I don't believe that is the correct answer. However, you may try

again, if you wish.

[DJ13]

6. No, I think he got it

:rofl:

[TheWatcher]

38. He doesn't need to try again. Try taking the blinders off, you may learn something. Or not.

Most likely not.

[G_j]

27. ding..ding...

[ipaint]

39. Bingo! lol nt.

[kentuck]

2. I don't know why they didn't make it an independent Cabinet position...

It seems very important.

[MineralMan]

3. Because they couldn't have done what they just did in that case.

But they have done what they just did, so it all works out well. But, you didn't answer my question. Who's Geithner's boss? Who tells Geithner what to do with this appointment? Any ideas?

[Fumesucker]

5. The person who chose Geithner as an advisor and administrator?

[chimpymustgo]

7. Ouch. Are you seeing thru the smoke and mirrors?

[metapunditedgy]

18. LOL. Be careful... logic can get you in trouble. n/t

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

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

[ClassWarrior]

8. Obama's going to be Warren's boss.

"The assistant to the president and special adviser to the Treasury secretary on the Consumer Financial Protection Agency" according to http://www.politico.com/politico44/index.html?refresh=1.

NGU.

[LiberalAndProud]

9. She reports directly to the president, so that makes him her boss, doesn't it?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/09/exclusive-president-obama-to-this-week-name-elizabeth-warren-to-special-advisory-role-to-white-house.html
Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor who first proposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will be named to a special position reporting to both him and to the Treasury Department and tasked with heading the effort to get the new federal agency standing

[snot]

11. Two bosses.

[ClassWarrior]

12. The way I read it, one boss, one advisee. (See the link in my post above.)

NGU.

[snot]

16. My guess is that means

Timmeh can't fire her without Obama's concurrence; I don't think it means she can boss Timmeh.

(I'm afraid it means, every time she and Timmeh disagree, she'll have to run to Obama and say Timmeh won't let me do X; and Obama will have to decide.)

[ClassWarrior]

37. Right. It looks like she's essentially a consultant, hired to work...

...with Timmeh, but reporting to O.

NGU.

[KoKo]

47. Obama plus his friend from years past...Geithner...She's got her work cut out..

says...HARD SLOG!

[MineralMan]

13. You know, I knew that. It was sort of a rhetorical question,

you see, since so many people have been whining about here working for the evil Satan Geithner. I guess I needed my :sarcasm: in the original post.

[Pirate Smile]

10. She'll report to both President Obama directly and Geithner.

So essentially, she reports to the President.

[MineralMan]

14. Thanks. The satirical nature of my OP seems to have gotten lost

somehow. Oh, well...some you win...

[zipplewrath]

15. Snarky

Actually, it wasn't satirical, it was snarky.

But org charts are very serious business in DC and if you don't think these reporting lines are important, you haven't been paying attention. The special advisor to the president schtick has alot to do with what spending authority she'll have in her work and what other departments she can request work from. There is a reason she's also reporting to Timmy, and it isn't pro forma.

[onenote]

17. there is a reaon warren is reporting to Geithner, but its not what you think

The reason is that Section 1066 of the statute delegates authority to Geithner to run the Bureau until the first Director is confirmed by the Senate. As a matter of delegated authority, you can't just bypass Geithner. But what you can do is name someone to "advise" him with the understanding that this advisor will really be running the Bureau and that while the advisor's authority technically flows from Geithner, by making the advisor a special assistant to the president, you've effectively made the chain of command Obama to Warren, with Geithner merely there as a beard.

[metapunditedgy]

20. Does that mean delaying confirmation effectively puts Geithner in charge? n/t

[onenote]

22. No, it means that Warren is effectively in charge

She isn't the Director, but she's been given the job of acting as the director. THe fig leaf is that she has to, in terms of delegated powers, be in a job that reports to Geithner. But since she also is in a job that reports to the President, the reality is that the real chain of command is Obama to Warren, which is would be if/when she is confirmed as director.

[metapunditedgy]

26. But that's hypothetical, whereas your quote on the statute says Geithner has

"authority... to run the Bureau until the first Director is confirmed by the Senate."

Anything that delays nomination/confirmation is effectively putting Geithner in charge???

[onenote]

29. how washington works

Geithner technically has been delegated the authority until the President's choice is confirmed. Obama had several options: if he wanted Geithner to run the Bureau he could have done nothing or simply nominated Warren and not given her any interim position of any kind. If, on the other hand, Obama wanted to get Warren in a position to run the Bureau as quickly as possible, he could have (a) given her a recess appointment, which would potentially put a time limit on her appointment or (b) found an end-run approach where he gives her a job as an assistant in the White House (answerable to him), makes her also reportable to the Secretary which is a means of getting around the delegation issue.

Everyone involved knows what is going on. Notwithstanding what it might look like on paper, the President has given the job of setting up and running the agency to Warren. Geithner is, for all intents and purposes, out of the picture other than having, at the direction of the president, named her as an advisor so he can delegate his delegated authority to her. Could he try to take it back? In theory maybe he could, but what are the odds of his doing against the wishes of the President at whose pleasure he serves?

[metapunditedgy]

34. I'm with you until the end. "Trust me" and "this is how Washington works" don't sit

well with me. If your scenario is accurate, I would expect the WH to come out with at least some strong language (for what language is worth) to clarify how the system works.

The other sticking point is that, if the WH is really serious about this, they're free to *nominate* Warren at the same time. That would be a declaration of intent. This... is still to wishy-washy for me. I'd be an idiot to let my hopes be dashed again.

[zipplewrath]

25. That's one outline

Another is that the "special advisor to the president" schtick is merely to give her sufficient authority to actually do the job. Those titles come with powers which give people the authority to request activities from other cabinets and departments.

Timmy fought hard to have this department underneath him. He didn't do that just so he could give it all up. With this arrangement, he can basically demand the authority to "sign off" on everything she creates.

[onenote]

32. Really. Geithner can "demand" that Obama let him tell Warren what to do?

I almost hurt myself falling on the floor laughing at that one.

On paper she works for both Obama and Geithner. In reality, she works for the one that made the decision to give her the position, which is Obama. Geithner didn't have to go along. He could quit. He didn't. He knows whose choice she is and that she is taking the reins of the agency just as much as if she had gone through the confirmation process.

[zipplewrath]

36. No, he can demand that he be part of the process

Obama could of course completely side line Timmy. I don't really expect him to do that to one of his closest advisors (his aides refer to the relationship as a "man crush"). I expect him to still take his advice and counsel. The issue generally is what is known as "being the last man out of the room". It is the assurance that Biden asked for when he was chosen as VP. It euphamistically means getting to be the last person to discuss an issue before the decision is made. It is considered a very powerful position to have.

Timmy is very close and in effect could be given that kind of priviledge. I'm dubious Obama would give it to Warren, and she'd be the ultimate in hubris to ask for it. The end result is that one would expect Timmy to ask for, and recieve, the authority to be in the signature loop for "everything" such that he gets to comment last before it goes to Obama. That is a very powerful position, the position of being able to "take this to the President". What none of us know is if Warren will also have that power.

[MineralMan]

21. The spectrum between satirical and snarky depends on

your viewpoint. We are apparently sitting in two different places. And that's a very good thing.

[zipplewrath]

23. Satire has a very specific definition

Exactly what question were you satirizing with your original post?

[MineralMan]

42. Oh, I'll leave that to you. Satire explained is satire not understood.

You're a clever person. I'm sure you can suss it out.

[zipplewrath]

49. That's what I thought

In order to be satire, it has to satirize an actual event or person. You didn't have one did you?

[metapunditedgy]

19. If Geithner is going to be Warren's boss... what the FUCK is going on???

Is there anybody on this PLANET who thinks consumers are better served when Geithner is involved?

[onenote]

24. On paper he's her boss. In reality he is not.

On paper, he runs the Bureau until a director is confirmed. Now, in the ways of Washington, the Secretary of Treasury isn't going to personally run another agency. So he'd delegate it. In this case however, it wasn't Geithner that did the delegating, it was Obaman. On paper she also reports to Geithner, but anyone who knows how these things work knows that the reporting to Geithner part is merely a fig leaf to deal with Section 1066 of the law.

[metapunditedgy]

28. I've been around long enough to know that in reality, "in reality" means "if we can

make it work that way." :-)

I think if Obama wants to make it clear that Geithner is just a piece of paper, he knows exactly how to do it. And so far, this is *not* the way.

[onenote]

30. really. how would you suggest that they do it then?

I'm curious.

[metapunditedgy]

35. Edit: see post #34. Make a strong declaration of intent to back up this "appointment." n/t

[KoKo]

44. It's called "COMPROMISE." eom

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

33. The Federal Reserve?

:shrug:

[Ignis]

40. Is this an avant-garde version of Goldoni's famous play?

Personally, I read it in the original language as Arlecchino Servitore di Due Padroni, but most only know it as Servant of Two Masters.

[howaboutme]

41. Wall Street calls the shots according to the news.

So who does Geithner work for? When Geithner was coming up for his nomination, the word was out that only he could fill the slot as head of the US Treasury because he was backed by the international leaders of Wall Street, even though he scammed the IRS.

Brian Williams said last night that Wall Street vehemently opposes Warren. Chris Dodd opposes Warren too. Does Geithner and Dodd work for Wall Street?

SO - where does Obama and "we the people" fit into the role as to who calls the shots in OUR government - as leaders or followers or serfs?

[KoKo]

43. Mineral Man...get off your Evil/Devil Self...Obama is Da' MAN!

You fool your people...lol's

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

45. This is one seriously sad thread of shit stirring fail. That is all.

On edit: You've lured some moths in it seems. :toast:

[KoKo]

46. Moths..drawn to flames...some do escape though..and they are tough ones to get with Swatter

when they've escaped. LOL's.....Moths...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

48. Perhaps Warren might whip Geithner into action?