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Tim's Out - Sheila and Debt Relief In?
In my piece “What’s in Store for 2010” my number one prediction was:
-Tim Geithner will resign as Treasury Secretary. Sheila Bair will replace him.
The odds of getting any of these types of predictions correct are
probably 20 to 1. Given what has happened in the past few days I would
now say that the ‘swap’ of Sheila for Tim is an even money bet.
Mr. Geithner has outlived his usefulness. He is too connected to the
bailouts of 08. Bear, Lehman, AIG, TARP and even QE are all part of his
legacy. That makes Tim a lightening rod. Too many Americans hate that
part of our history.
I don’t think the current flap relating to the deliberate
‘non-disclosure’ of information relating to AIG is that big a deal.
When the full history of this period is finally told (it will take
awhile yet) this particular transgression of Mr. Geitner will look
small by comparison. The things that we do not yet know about that we
'agreed to' during the 'crisis period' are going to cause us to roll our
eyes and bow our heads when all is said and done.
Those that had their hands on the tiller were firmly of the belief that
the western world financial system was shutting down. They left no
stone unturned in trying to save the patient. They committed future
generations for Trillions in additional debt. Every step available to
calm market fears was taken. Even withholding information. When you are
at war, and you think you are losing, you do what you have to do. If
you later win the war and someone criticizes you for using WMD so be
it.
I will take a stab at writing the President’s statement on this:
“I have today accepted the resignation of my Treasury Secretary Tim
Geithner. One year ago the global economy was facing the biggest
challenge in history. Tim and a small handful of dedicated individuals
took the steps that were considered necessary at the time to first
stabilize a collapsing system and second, put the economy of the US and the
globe on a path that would lead to recovery.”
“For this, the American people owe Tim our thanks. He worked
tirelessly during one of the darkest periods of our history. And he
succeeded. Today the economic crisis of one year ago has receded. Our
economy has stabilized and growth has resumed. Our financial
institutions have also returned to health. The financial support
provided them through the TARP program has worked. We see the evidence
of this as those banks who took assistance a year ago are now paying it
back with interest.”
“Our country continues to face serious economic challenges.
Unemployment remains stubbornly high; we face a protracted period of
large fiscal imbalances. A critical weakness continues to be with
homeowners who are unable to meet their financial obligations.”
“I have appointed Sheila Bear to replace Tim Geithner. Sheila will
bring to the Treasury Department her proven leadership and
administrative skills. She has both the knowledge of the core issues
and the compassion that is required to address the problems that are at
hand.”
“Sheila has set the standards and seen to the implementation of the
Nations efforts in restructuring home mortgages. The guidelines for
refinancing troubled homeowners that she established have been accepted
by virtually every public and private sector lender. Much more work needs to be done in this area. Many homeowners are still facing default. This reality causes human suffering and is adding to our economic problems. I am looking forward to working with Ms. Bair in this critical area as well as all of the other challenges we face.”
Okay, so that was BS. But if it does go this way, the Boss will say words to this effect. He will just do it better.
My sense is that this would be a very significant development. I
believe that Ms. Bair will introduce a very large program of PRICIPAL
debt relief for borrowers. This program will start with the D.C.
mortgage lenders Fannie, Freddie and FHA. It will be forcibly extended
to the private sector lenders. (They already have significant reserves
on a lot of this.)
I hate this development. But I think it is the ‘right thing to do’. The
inequity of it will cause great divides. The cost will be astronomical.
The total could go as high as $800 billion. A significant portion of
that would be born by the Government lenders. My guess for the taxpayer
tab is $500 billion. I do not see any realistic alternative however. If
we let the problem fester it will cause us to lose a decade of growth.
Better we deal with it now.
A muse of all of this is that the money to accomplish a half trillion
dollars of debt relief has already been made available to the D.C.
mortgage lenders. Mr. Geithner saw to that on Christmas Eve when he did
the ‘Sneaky Pete’ announcement of a virtual blank check for the
Agencies. For me, that was a much more serious offense than the
disclosure issues with AIG. That was then, this is now. I thought that
this, by itself, would have proved to be a significant enough gaff to
take him down. As it turns out, that straw on the camels back may well
prove to be the critical step that insures that the next Treasury
Secretary will have the ‘Bazooka’ that is necessary to address the
problem. Funny how things work. It almost looks like it was planned.
Notes:
-I do think that Sheila Bair would make an excellent T.
Secretary. She has the skills and experience. She also has a vision
that we desperately need. She is no lightweight. She will fight very
hard and she has a lot of ‘chips’ in her pocket. The fact that she is a
woman is helpful. In my opinion it is high time that a woman took this
job. Lets face it. The ‘Guys’ have screwed this up for decades.
-If all this happens and Tim G. ends up at PIMCO or with Wilbur Ross
structuring investments in “Distressed Debt” as Neel Kashkari and James
Lockhart have, I am just going to puke.
»
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According to Christopher Story, editor of something called
International Currency Review, Timothy has already been arrested.
"We were advised that Geithner had been re-arrested and that the Comptroller of the Currency, John C. Dugan, said also to have been involved in money sabotage, was also reported to us to have been arrested"
( http://www.worldreports.org/news/257_operation_stillpoint_to_destroy_america_stopped )
Paulson is supposed to be in jail in the Bahamas. Wouldn't it be nice?
It is mostly likely that our boy Chris has a persistent and well developed paranoid delusion...
Ah, yes. Christopher Story. I'd forgotten about him. He's the main source of the fascinating (from the point of view of a pathologist) Leo Wanta story, among other set-pieces of the tinfoil-hat set. Actually Mr. Story might be more into sheet metal than tinfoil by this point. Worth a read, if you really don't have anything else to do. I think a very small amount of lithium, at very regular intervals, might even Chris out just fine. But that would be the end of a frequently entertaining website.
Bair ?... Oh no, her next step is JPM for pay back fror the Wamu deal. No couurt date in site for shareholders.
With Bernanke, Frank, Shapiro and Bair all in charge of banking and markets... And all being Jewish, is there no reason to be suspicious ?. What if the were all Mandarin speaking Chinese ?..
Turn the other cheek sheeple..
I remember late in '08 (but before the election) reading that no matter who won (McCain or Obama) Geithner would be the SecTreas, or Wall Street would flush the market. I had my doubts at the time. There was talk then of Bair as SecTreas, but the word was Wall Street said "ixnay" to that.
I also remember when the Bush/Paulson stimulus first came up, and then Obama's round of stimulus, I said the plans proved nobody was actually serious about fixing the economy; they were just trying to patch up GS's (and others') cash flow for long enough that the big firms could sell enough stock to cover the hole in their pockets.
I said then, mostly to be snotty but a little seriously, that we'd know when they were serious about the economy when they canned Geithner, put in Bair, and announced that the first $12 trillion was just gone and now they would create another $12 trillion and give every man, woman and child in America $40,000. Of course some of us would save it or blow it, but most of us would spend it buying down debt to banks. That would reduce debt and shore up the banks' balance sheets.
I'm not advocating that approach (yes, I do understand the negative side-effects), nor do I think it will be enacted. But while we're all locked in the trunk of the General Lee while the Dukes of [Moral] Hazard jump the creek, what the hell?
My favorite pic:
And let's not forget the arrogance of Timmy G's predecessor, Hank "the Tank" Paulson:
Good points about the non-issue of principal reduction. Would forced term extension to 50 years be effective?
What makes you think any of this shit matters at all? There's nothing a treasury secretary can do to unwind our debt at this point. Doesn't matter how smart or hard working you think Sheila is; she doesn't have any magic solutions.
Frankly, I think you'd have to be an idiot to volunteer disaster of a job. Why on earth would you want to be TS when the econopmy implodes? It'ss not worth it.
Chris Dodd replaces Tim. Yeah, sounds stupid but Obama is that stupid. But maybe he isn't that stupid. Consider that Dodd would be very loyal as he knows he might get prison or a pitchfork when a few ummmm....deals that he made come to light. Surely you folks don't believe Obama wants to make things better..do you?
Hell no not Shiela.
How about Brooksley Born. Or Judge Rankenoff (Spelling) the guy that threw out the SEC/BoA deal.
Ron Paul would work too.
Give me someone with a backbone, someone who is honest and knows what personal integrity is. I am totally sick and tired of the worthless, bought and paid for, hacks that have been appointed to positions of power within our government. Give us someone who will make the hard choices, who will do the real dirty work that needs to be done. Give me someone who will tell Wall Street to take a flying fucking leap when they come asking for more bailouts. Someone who is looking out for what is best for America as a whole, not just the bank, and also, not just the common man.
But dont give me more political hacks that are in the pocket of Wall Street, I am sick to fucking death of them.
Whoever they want in there will be appointed whether they are qualified or not.
Sheila Bair has the skills and experience?? Of what? Of doing nothing while FDIC's DIF dwindled below the statutory limit? Of saying over and over again that FDIC was well funded when it was not? Give me a break.
But precisely because she is seemingly incompetent (I say seemingly, for I do think she has done what she's been told to do), she will be rewarded. Just like the previous admin that this admin has been aping so well.
Thank you Bruce Krasting. Nice blog post.
IMHO It's not that complicated. Every American already has a fully functional account at the IRS.
IMHO There is only one way to do it without huge social and political back-lash. No monetisation needed. No bailouts for losers on the backs of the responisble people.
Put $x into every IRS account. The banks (incl Fannie, Freddie, etc) can make claims against the money. The IRS pays off the most expensive debt first (credit cards, mortgages, etc). People who have no debt simply get their $x as a reduction on taxes in April.
Everybody gets their cut. The end result is that a huge amount of risk comes out of the system.
Note : this does not increase the total outstanding debt of the USA (including copporations and citizens) by one penny. This is not monetization. It is debt restructuring.
American citizens are paying (on average) very high interest rates on their debts right now. Using the debt purchasing power of the US government to restructure that debt:
a) reduces the monthly debt payments of all Americans
b) reduces the interest cost of the debt by hundreds of billions
c) recapitalises the entire banking system
d) makes "whole" and closes out 40x the $x in derivatives and other exotic beasts
This is the Namke Debt Consolidation Idea. And I still think that it is the only way to prevent a couple of Japanese-style lost decades. It would restructure a couple of trillion of US debt but it would not increase the debt of the nation.
On top of this, of course, there is a nice mechanism that the Fed can use to drain liquidity via Fannie, Freddie and the money market funds. And the need is pressing. Corporations are loading up on cash right now (even if they don't need it) to lock in today's low interest rates. The minute that the private sector feels that the recession has hit a low point they will unleash that cash (M&A, buying back their shares, stockpiling, etc).
So, a quick debt restructuring announced in sync with a quarter point rise in interest rates would completely stabilise the dollar, jobs and the economy in a month or two. The Fed would then be able to reverse-repo all the MBS out of their accounts (to the money market funds) over the course of the year in an orderly way.
I guess what I am trying to say is : I think that there is a simple, quick and politically viable way out of this mess. But I don't think Geithner has the degrees of freedom needed to make it happen.
IMHO Sheila Bair would be a wonderful choice. IMHO Geithner has what I call the "Empire Destruction Disease" : intellectual and social in-breeding to the point of possible DNA and brain cell damage. (The best slave is the slave who thinks he's free?)
all the best from
Namke von Federlein
"Mr. Geithner has outlived his usefulness. He is too connected to the bailouts of 08. Bear, Lehman, AIG, TARP and even QE are all part of his legacy." As far as Wall Street is concerned, Mr. Geithner has not outlived his usefulness. Wall Street wants Geithner as Treasury Secretary precisely because he is "too connected to the bailouts of 08" and "Bear, Lehman, AIG, TARP and even QE are all part of his legacy".
Hate to disappoint the good government types but if Wall Street has any say in the matter, Sheila Bair will not replace Geithner. Sheila has a tad too much integrity and is too much an unknown loose cannon for Wall Street. Wall Street wants Timmy or some other "made" man sworn to omerta. Remember, Geithner was the best that the Wall Street mafia could come up with on short notice to fill the boots of Godfather Hank Paulson. The Wall Street mob is not going to give up the Treasury Secretary job to "civilians" without a fight.
Jamie Dimon.
Bair gets to clean the toilets.
"I do think that Sheila Bair would make an excellent T. Secretary."
Obviously you and Tyler could lock horns on that little diddy.
Now, if this prophesy does come true, what dedicated supine bureaucratic individual will be graced with the pleasure of running the SEC?
supine - inactive, passive, or inert, esp. from indolence or indifference, [definition from Dictionary.com])
SEC...Eliot Spitzer gets my vote.
I was in an industry he investigated and he had 'em shaking in their boots.
After his ordeal, he would come in and kick ass, with the result being the knight in shining armor.
Debt relief at the GSEs won't happen. Why not? Because the mortgages they guarantee that don't have credit enhancement just are not that delinquent. Look at the numbers. For both Fannie and Freddie, less than 4% of their unenhanced mortgages are delinquent. That is nothing. If only 4% of mortgages were delinquent, we wouldn't have a housing crisis, Bernanke wouldn't be buying 1.25T of MBS, etc.
The problem lies with the mortgages that are credit enhanced, i.e. have mortgage insurance. So what is the government going to do, bail out the mi companies by forgiving principal on loans for which they are supposed to pay losses? Not likely.
Plus, they know that once they start forgiving principal on GSE loans, the default rate will go to 100%. I know I would immediately default on my mortgage, just to get in line for a hand out. It would spiral out of control, and the economy would be in chaos.
Barney Frank said it himself, there will be no principal reductions, outside of bankruptcy. So we may see cramdown legislation get jammed through. But that's it.
JMHO.
More likely we are going to see more support
Agreed. If principal reductions were a no-brainer, they would have done it already. Anyone in the mortgage business knows it would be a disaster and would spin out of control. Not to mention the strong public support against it. You think the banks are against it, wait until all the folks who are renters, or who own a house outright, or who have lots of equity in their homes, start literally rioting in the street, and burning down the houses of their neighbors who got a free handout. Have you ever read the comments on any message board frequented by J6P about strategic defaults? If people are pissed about "deadbeats walking away", can you imagine how pissed they will be if the government starts giving out free money.
The solution is, and will always be, short sales and foreclosures, to get prices down in line with incomes, and get people back to work so they have incomes. The Administration is actually on the right path on their recent initiative to help people with short sales and pay their moving costs to move into a rental, we just need more emphasis on that.
I know from past posts Bruce that you are for some reason against that idea, that somehow having house prices reach equilibrium will devastate communities, and therefore we need another solution, but there is no other solution. Either we do it fast and get it over with, or we suffer for decades like the Japanese.
The solution is, and will always be, short sales and foreclosures, to get prices down in line with incomes, and get people back to work so they have incomes.
Amen! Please allow the laws of supply and demand to work naturally.
GFI, You are right on this. The "best" course of action would have been to shake the tree and let the leaves fall. That did not happen and it will not happen.
We have already spent a quadrillion, I doubt we are going to change the basic direction at this point.
I think you are 100% correct when you say this has to happen "fast" or we will suffer like Japan for a few decades. I think the folks in DC actually recognize this too. But they are not likely to let the leaves fall. It is not their style.
Tim has to go but........... There are so many plates spinnng and the decision makeing is so concentrated around him I think the adminstration is paralysed. A few months ago I heard there were a lot of unfilled desks at Treasury and not because the GOP has put confirmations in super slow motion mode just to be dick head but because there have not even been nominees put into place. One has to believe Tim doesn't tell the White House everything. I mean come on. He's been playing power politics long enough to know when to hold em.
The Treasury is every bit as important as the Fed now in some ways. In addtion they are partners as they have to be with the giant endless auctions ongoing. The latest games having to do with TARP funds being put into the general fund and the Feds timing of MBS settlements to coincide with auctions. The thing about Tim is he knows this stuff like the back of his hand. Does Blair?
Truth be told I would not count out Summers. A man who knows where all the bodies are buried.
politically, Summers is a toxic asset. the political shitstorm that would erupt from a Summers nomination would be enormous.
"A man who knows where all the bodies are buried."...because he ate 1/2 their flesh.
Bair does not have to be the expert is selling bonds. That is what the primary dealers do.
Maybe the job of the TS is to establish an environment where people felt comfortable about things. What is that called? Leadership maybe? TG did not do that for me or the bond market.
Summers is a very bright guy. But he is also one of "guys" who screwed this up for the last few decades. We need some fresh blood.
If Timmy is tossed out, Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankcheckfind will take care of him. However, Lloyd insists that Timmy use the back-door servants entrance when he comes for his handouts.
Looks like the federal Executive Branch and Congress are slowly but surely nationalizing the housing industry. It is the same "humane" motivation driving the nationalization of health care. Welcome to Section 8 on steroids.
I believe that Geithner has yet to pull his greatest heist yet. In his role as Treasury Secretary, the Treasury / IRS is co-sponsoring the following idea with the Department of Labor.
In addition to "mandatory 401(k) participation" for all employees, IRS / Labor is proposing "mandatory investments in annuities / Treasuries" within those 401(k)s. They will be marketed as "safer" and "guaranteed income stream, and return of principal".
Only measured in nominal terms, and ignoring the large inflation we will soon have.
Voila: mandatory demand for Treasuries, allowing long-end rates to remain "manageable", replacing demand from foreign / institutional investors who will not buy Treasuries, and a willing sucker (er, purchaser) in the form of the US worker.
After that is implemented, Geithner will be "permitted" to resign, his job done.
And I'm certain he will be admirably rewarded.
(Watch the urgency on health care be ramped up, as will this 401(k) proposal. It must be done quickly.)
Joe C from DC
It is a brillant idea (from a criminal point of view) because people really are stupid to the concept of inflation. People look at the stock market over the past 10 years and say "it wasn't that bad, it was flat or a bit down", forgetting entirely that the dollar lost 25% of its purchasing power over the past decade.
Or they bought a house in 2002 and now that prices are back to that level, they think they are still at breakeven.
Even more current, look at the "recovery" this year. By almost any measure, the economy is getting worse, except those things measured in USD. Think about it - how many economic indicators are measured in USD? Most of them. So "manufacturing activity" is up as measured in USD. Yeah, because copper prices have more than doubled, oil is 82 a barrel, nickel, sugar, etc all higher. But because the USD has been destroyed, economic activity as measured in USD looks like it is rebounding.
Anything not measured in USD, like people employed, rail car shipments, port activity, etc., has stabilized at a low level, or is getting worse.
Pay the serfs a guaranteed 2-3% a year, run inflation at 5% a year, and they will be thrilled.
Sheila Bair continuously fails as a regulator to bring prompt corrective action leaving insolvent banks open which results in greater losses to the FDICs deposit insurance fund than necessary, and she should be promoted to Secretary of the Treasury? I really am in the Twilight Zone!
Since I'm here and we're discussing borrower forebearance/forgiveness as a possible salve for our nation's ills, what message does that send those folks who were responsible and didn't overextend themselves? You know, the folks who had some money saved for a home but said no to mortgages priced for perfection/flipping. Who, with the floor forebearance/forgiveness likely puts under housing prices combined with a still crappy job market, will probably be priced out of owning a home forever. All while they pick up part of their portion tax bill for those who overextended.
A vote for borrower forebearance or forgiveness is a vote against residential real estate (or any other) price discovery (more accurately it is a vote against equilibrium price). If you want to replace Geithner with somebody with strong regulator integrity and what appears to be personal honesty, thereby attempting to reinstill confidence in the US Treasury, might I suggest Professor William K. Black?
P.S. Rather than fire Geithner/have him resign, can't we just annul his freaking confirmation? Then attempt to prosecute him for criminal misconduct and possible treason (misappropriation of we the people's money)?
Edit original post: "part of their" should be "part of the/their"
I agree, Bruce. It's extremely important that the Secretary of the Treasury be someone who was born with a vagina. In fact, when considering someone for an important role in the government, a person's genitals should always be considered. BTW, you should quit your job, so it can be done by a superior person -- someone born with a vagina.
Geithner is toast, I've been on record at ZH on this issue for quite some time.
Dodd is not going to happen.
I've got mixed feelings on Bair, sometimes I am impressed, other times not. I do give her high marks for those occasions that she spoke out against the summers, bernanke, wall street, banking complex.
Could be a prescient call on your part Bruce.
btw, you've got the Presidential speech thing down cold...wow! does this mean that I shouldn't believe anything you write anymore??? LOL!
Looks like it is time to send Joe back out there if the administration is gonna swing. What do you think DH?
miles...do you mean biden? i'm not exactly sure what you're asking.
hoping all is well in your life.
Ya DH. Back to the Scranton and fluffernutter conversation. I still suspect that a reversal may be in the offing. After all, there are few things in this world that compare to American politicians who feel their power slipping away. I just wonder if there is any capacity within the democratic establishment to actually fight instead of flail. In this I am looking to see how this cycles traffic to sites like ActBlue compare to last cycle and how the loss of much of their army of door knockers will influence the administrations actions.
One thing is nearly certain. The out of power party idea that all is ok since the voting public can be counted on to simply vote the anti* candidate may well be another historical concept since many on the right have already felt their kick to the teeth on the "promised" balanced budget & right to life amendments. The political fact of the matter now is that the disillusioned young and middle aged democrats have joined the disillusioned Rockefeller & evangelical republicans in being less likely to respond to the anti evil doer call to action. Interesting set of operative conditions.
Someones got to go. Geitnher or Bernanke. There's not the right ingredients for the spell. You've got 2 eye of newts when you clearly need 1 eye of newt and one bat wing. We are 18 months into this thing and big players ability to continue pretending is getting stressed way to much. They've got to try to pull off a faith capture to pull in the necessary offerings to the temple.
I agree, Bruce. It's extremely important that the Secretary of the Treasury be someone who was born with a vagina. In fact, when considering someone for an important role in the government, a person's genitals should always be considered.
BTW, you should quit your job, so it can be done by a superior person -- someone born with a vagina.
Sheila Bair?
I think you're way off base. Neither Sheila nor Obumbler want to go through with what would be extremely contentious confirmation hearings. Sheila? The Congresscritters will have none of her.
They will settle for nothing less than "one of their own" - and that means either Chris Dodd or Bawney Fwank in that job.
Oh, this is getting to be soooo nice.
not saying they won't try but there is tons of contract law to negate if you want sweeping princ. forgiveness. FRE and FNM are already violating some 5% covenants but not by much to get people up in arms. if you stick it to bondholders you may actually start a war with another country. the good borrower still outnumbers the bad borrower don't forget. there will be a massive shit storm to deal with.
Good post Bruce but I can't agree with your Sheila pick. What has she done at FDIC that gives you confidence in her? Certainly not following Prompt Corrective Action, which is law. To me it seems like she is in too deep with the establishment to change anything for the better.
Matt
I know this is hard to take but I actually think she did ok. She is not responsible for the banks that failed. She recently put a deal together where the banks paid $45 bil into the FDIC. This step avoided another federal bailout. As a result the FDIC is pretty stable for at least the next 24-36 months. Her job at FDIC is finished, she put herself out of a job.
Unfortunately, the prepayment of FDIC premium is exactly what the this administration did with the cash for clunkers program and the home buyers tax credit. Took all of the folks who were thinking of buying over the next year and condensed them into two months. A great two months of car sales and home sales. But then a big fat zero. I would be broke if I ran my business that way.
Cross dressing this pig would be a pretty shallow trick but I wouldn't put it past the FED. Sheila Bair as fed chairman?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSnLGdpjWf4
Or maybe it would just be someting more like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnummFLTAYU
"And he succeeded. Today the economic crisis of one year ago has receded. Our economy has stabilized and growth has resumed. Our financial institutions have also returned to health."
I think you have a 6 month window before you have to edit that line right out of the "thank you Timmay" speech. Obama's team of Economic Stooges, of which Timmay is Larry, Larry is Moe and Bernank-ster is Curly... are steering the economy right into a big W.
Recession that is. And this one will be 100% Obama's. No blaming Bush the Dunce any more.
So...buh bye Timmay.
Don't forget to write. We won't be remembering you let alone thinking of you until the indictments are handed down.
As for Shelia Bobble Head of the infamous Bobble Head videos reassuring you about the FDIC... Better up the Xanax to Klonopin my dear. Look for the new Homely Stepford Wife Videos reassuring you about Treasury...
"I believe that Ms. Bair will introduce a very large program of PRICIPAL debt relief for borrowers."
Are you sheeeting me? I already paid the price for my asshole neighbor to the left of me who HELOCed his home and jingled back the keys. I watched as the smug bastard drove off in his 750L. Now we should bail out the puke living to my right who spends all his time in his HELOCed Cabin Cruiser?
I don't give a damn if it helps the system or not, to bail out these mooks is an outrage. If they get a hundred grand principle reduction so should I.
Let me guess the larger loan you've taken the larger the pinciple reduction. Give me a break already.
It could be even worse than you describe. What if it were easier to get principal relief if your mortgage was held by either Fannie, Freddie or FHA? If you got your loan from the local S&L you would be out of luck. This of course make no sense, but it still could happen.
You forgot to sign your post:
Love, Mrs. Geithner
Forget about it, this man was absolutely instrumental in the collapse of the US financial system (arguably the world's) by utter complacency and doing the bidding for those he was to protect against (even politics remember??).
We don't even know who has blackberry jam on their tongues and you have your jump to conclusion mat before anyone has opened their mouths.
Are you applying at the Treasury??
Bruce, you must have some internet pull! I read your post and for fun I set up our software to monitor search from around the world on "Shiela Blair and Tim Geithner" in combinations, and then monitor the supply side of that search result. After you post went active, there was a lull and then supply (think "results in Google")started catching up as people sent your link into the world and then copy cats started to appear. Kudos to ZH, a true grassroots web movement to truth and justice...well...ahh...kind of.:-)
How the hell do we do what I just said?
We study search demand/supply trends from around the world to find profitable niches and products A niche, or hot predictions, is not just a demand side issue, but a supply/demand curve. If you predict IPHONE apps will take off, and there are already 100,000 aps, then you aren't going to hit that one. If you see that demand for cell phone radiation shields is going nuts and there are only two suppliers, then you can be pretty sure that it will be a good year for those 2 supplies. The software at www.TheInternetTimeMachine.com studies both the demand (search volume) and supply (think "results" in Google). The Google Phone is generating much more buzz right now then say the Apple Tablet.
Cheers,
Curt
Here is a video on what I mean.. http://bit.ly/SupplyDemandCurves
Treasury Secretary is not just a domestic position so just how well would Sheila go down internationally. Maybe about as well as Madeleine Albright who was thought to be a maid
by some diplomats when she entered a meeting. She is also a bit too Republican in my estimation to be given such a prominent post ( can you say 20120 IMHO