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Geithner: Pickpocketing Trillions from the People to Give to the Oligarchy Was "Deeply Unfair", But We ... Um ... Had To
Tim Geithner told the Today Show that:
It's
"deeply unfair" that some financial institutions that got taxpayer-paid
bailouts are emerging in better shape from the recession than millions
of ordinary Americans.Geithner also argued that President Barack Obama had no choice when confronted with a financial crisis.
"As the president has said, we had to do some very unpopular things," Geithner said. "People looked at what had happened."
"It's
not fair. It's deeply unfair," he said. "He (Obama) had to decide
whether he was going to act to fix it or stand back ... and that would
have been calamitous for the American economy."
There are only a couple of minor inaccuracies in Geithner's statements:
- The government hasn't done anything to fix the economy
- Geithner's entire approach
is wrong, because the economy can't recover until many of the
"financial institutions that got taxpayer-paid bailouts [and] are
emerging in better shape" are broken up
- The government has been anemic in addressing unemployment
Moreover,
it is not like their approach fell on them and they couldn't do
anything about it. Geithner, Summers, Bernanke and the boys made a conscious decision to side with the oligarchy at the expense of the people.
As Simon Johnson and James Kwak write:
[There
was a] point at which the government had to decide if it would defend
the financial oligarchy from populist outrage, or whether it would
reform the financial system that brought us the financial crisis and
severe recession. We do not think it was an easy choice. But ultimately
Obama and his advisers chose to bet on the bankers they knew. The
result has been even larger banks and an even more concentrated
financial sector.
Geithner also told the Today Show
that he hopes skeptical voters will note legislation moving through
Congress to bring reforms to the financial system.
He's banking, of course, on the fact that many voters won't realize that the legislation is a placebo containing no real medicine.
Geithner ended the interview with this pearl of wisdom:
"What
happened in our country should never happen again," he said. "People
were paid for taking enormous risks. It was a crazy way to run a
financial system." Geithner said, "It's the government's job ... to do
a better job of restraining that kind of risk-taking."
Indeed ... too bad that Geithner and the boys are still encouraging that kind of risk-taking.
Geithner was, of course, largely
responsible for much of the failure of the government to restrain
risk-taking in the first place.
As William Black points out:
Mr.
Geithner, as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since
October 2003, was one of those senior regulators who failed to take any
effective regulatory action to prevent the crisis, but instead covered
up its depth.
Geithner was also complicit in Lehman's accounting fraud .
And pushed to pay AIG's CDS counterparties at full value, and then to keep the deal secret.
And as Robert Reich notes
today, Geithner was "very much in the center of the action" regarding
the secret bail out of Bear Stearns without Congressional approval.
Indeed, the list of Geithner's hinky actions grows longer by the day as new facts emerge.
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So that I don't misunderstand your position, you feel it's OK to give a pass to those who had no down, had no documentation of income, and must have known they were rolling the dice, now have no culpability in that the rest of us have to save their asses? We are only talking about the borrowers now, the banksters are another matter entirely.
I think it's a good point to not try and say which side of the arrangement was more culpable. Both parties bear blame, but the banker ethic, which seems to revolve around the credo, "If it's legal, profitable, and I can get away with it, then it' OK" is far more corrosive to the system than simple or even willful ignorance. I'm a saver and have no debt, yet I'm getting screwed. That's where righteous anger takes root.
You and me both, brother! Neither party should get the pass, and some of those bankers should be charged.
+100
Geithner keeps his job because he's a parrot. He says and does as his handlers wish. Nothing more.
"unfair", "Oblame had to decide what to do"?
What, may I ask was TTTimmy and uncle BBen doing before, during and after the "brink" resulting in bailout nation?
"It's deeply unfair" ..... "Fix it" Timmy, make them give back the fucking bonuses.
Yeah, OFrontman gets to take the blame. The bailouts actually started under Bush and then continued under Obama, which just goes to show you that these talking heads have no power.
Agreed.
Obama was vetted well before the Nov election to make sure he understood his role if he were catapulted to victory. He said yes, they pushed him to the top. Remember when Obama came out of nowhere to take the lead, particularly ahead of Hillary dear. Count back 2 or 3 weeks and that's when he took the blood oath.
"[There was a] point at which the government had to decide if it would defend the financial oligarchy from populist outrage, or whether it would reform the financial system that brought us the financial crisis and severe recession. We do not think it was an easy choice. But ultimately Obama and his advisers chose to bet on the bankers they knew. The result has been even larger banks and an even more concentrated financial sector."
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Do I support the people who gave me the Presidency or do I bite the hand that feeds me and have an accident of some sort. I know Biden will do what he's told. Decisions, decision, decisions. I know, let's flip a coin. Heads I feed the masters of the universe and tails I die.
Flip......Ding.....Slap.......HEADS! Thank God it came up heads. I didn't want to die.
Obama and Hillary had their secret meeting too in the summer with the powers that be. I noticed too that there is always the old guard behind the new presidents (Biden,Cheney,H.W.Bush,Lyndon Johnson) Quale and Ford were obviously incompetents that could be manipulated out of fear if need be. They gave the public what it wanted, but the agenda never changes. IMO Kennedy is the one that bucked the system, but they always have a backup plan.