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The Real Bailout Hero
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The battle to prevent a full-blown economic meltdown produced an unlikely savior, Tim Geithner, according to a new account. Andrew Ross Sorkin talks about his new book, and the behind-the-scenes scramble to save Wall Street.
Among the gems that emerge from Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin is a terrific inside look at Timothy F. Geithner, the baby-faced regulator who was practically a lifetime government employee before becoming the 75th Treasury secretary of the United States.
As Sorkin delivers the financial meltdown of 2008 in gripping hour-by-hour detail, we discover that Geithner—then the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank—was a much bigger player in the bailout than the public ever knew. “Oftentimes, you hear people talk about [Federal Reserve Chairman] Ben Bernanke as though he were the lead actor,” Sorkin says. “One of the revelations for me throughout the reporting process is that the real lead actors when it came to making these deals happen were [Treasury Secretary] Hank [Paulson] and Tim. Tim became a major ringleader when it came to trying to put some of these deals—ones that ended up not happening and ones that did end up happening—together.”
“A lot of people have looked at AIG as a Paulson bailout. In fact, it was a Tim Geithner bailout. Hank was in Washington and had very little to do with it. It was Tim’s deal. The terms of the deal are Tim’s.”
Indeed, Sorkin tells The Daily Beast that some of the best details are revelations of secret bailout deals that never came to fruition and we never knew about, such as repeated approaches by banks and insurance companies to Warren Buffett and frequent government-orchestrated propositions put to Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers.
• Read the five most revealing and cinema ready scenes from Sorkin’s new book.
Sorkin, an indefatigable reporter and smooth writer, covers mergers and acquisitions for The New York Times and runs its DealBook column and blog. So it was inevitable he would follow the dealmakers into the abyss of the great financial meltdown of 2008.
Too Big to Fail By Andrew Ross Sorkin 624 pages. Viking. $32.95
With this big book (624 pages, 539 pages of narrative) Sorkin chronicles what went on with the big boys. He knits together the disaster as it unfolds, beginning with Bear Stearns getting in trouble in March 2008 to an event-filled two weeks in September when Lehman Brothers went under, Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America, and AIG—the world’s largest insurance company—became a ward of the state.
The rescue of AIG and how its $85 billion (now more than $180 billion) bailout was put together, just hours after Lehman collapsed on Sept. 15, is particularly fascinating. On Tuesday morning, Sept. 16, when the AIG deal was finally formulated, we get this scene from inside the room: “All of the bankers are sitting around the table and Tim walks in and tells everybody: ‘Turn off your BlackBerrys, turn off your phones. I don’t want anybody calling out of this room.’ And he laid it down: ‘We’re going to do this. How much money do we need?’”
“A lot of people have looked at AIG as a Paulson bailout,” Sorkin says. “In fact, it was a Tim Geithner bailout. Hank was in Washington and had very little to do with it. It was Tim’s deal. The terms of the deal are Tim’s. He was the man at the table. He went to Ben to get approval. But this was a Tim Geithner production, and I am not sure people appreciated that at that point.”
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
Marc Rich Spills His Secrets
Allan Dodds Frank is a business investigative correspondent who specializes in white collar crime. He also is President of the Overseas Press Club of America, one of the many journalism organizations that protests the arrests of journalists abroad and repression of freedom of speech.
Madoff Secrets Go to the Grave
Allan Dodds Frank is a business investigative correspondent who specializes in white collar crime. He also is President of the Overseas Press Club of America, one of the many journalism organizations that protests the arrests of journalists abroad and repression of freedom of speech.
Hedge Fund Dominoes
Allan Dodds Frank is a business investigative correspondent who specializes in white collar crime. He also is President of the Overseas Press Club of America, one of the many journalism organizations that protests the arrests of journalists abroad and repression of freedom of speech.
Hero, humm, maybe he helped clean up the mess that he and his cohorts, Larry, Bob and Bill (Clinton) contributed so mightly to making inevitable. But when you think about it, these guys did a lot more damage than Bernie "BM" Madoff ever considered. And these banksters should share his fate. Think about it: BM can't print money to pay back his investors, and these guys can. That's the only difference. George Patton
George: The Bush administration's desire to kill any regulations and oversight was a bigger contributor to the Great Recession than anything done in the Clinton administration.
The only possible exception I can think of was the repeal of the Glass-Segal Act in 1999, which was passed in the Republican-dominated Congress by large margins.
Passed by the Republican-dominated Congress, yes! And signed by WJC, and he did it because he "opened the bazzar" on Capitoal Hill in order to beat the rap for sodomizing an intern and lying about it. Clinton will go down in history as one of the worst US Presidents. And Alan Greenspan, card carrying member of the Ayn Rand cult, will go down as the worst Fed Chairman. Ever. Alan D2 --whatever the hell that means--please try to connect the dots before you open your mouth. George Patton
WJC signed it because his Treasury Secretary wanted it. Robert Rubin. This was not a partisan issue. This is Government in bed with Wall Street to the demise of the peoples economy. Wall Street Fat Cats paying and bribing the government, both parties. Period.
I agree with George Patton. Barky Obama and company printed a trillion or two dollars to bring us back from the brink of depression. But in 1929 we did not have a ponzi scheme known as Social Security which, in today's world pumps money into the economy every month .
I am an independent candidate for president. That should allow enough deference to examine my program, the solution I see; what we should do. This is my approach to this issue which cannot wait until the next election. It is exactly what we should see done, as a people, and, as you can judge for yourself, exactly what Barky Obama, a "politishin," is incapable of doing.
When I was a kid General Motors used to say, what's good for General Motors was good for America, and today, where are they? But today, as America goes, so might go the health of our planet, the good ship Mother Urf. We need to refresh our "cap id a list" structures, without bureaucracy, renew our entrepreneurial spirit, or else we are going to be, for decades to come, a secondary lender nation, our dollar replaced by other currencies.
That is the writing on the wall. Here is my program. On good ship mother urf, everything hangs in the balance of sense.
Firstly, we, the people, through our government, should purchase every mortgage in USA, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ugly are those mortgages referred to as "tock sick." Notwithstanding Andrew Ross Sorkin's Geitner pander, we are still faced with a huge mortgage "prob limb" in USA
These residential mortgages can be purchased with Mortgage Savings Bonds, an original innovative financial instrument, (my idea pat pat pat) not inflationary cold cash, hot off the presses, which we don't have, though Tim G. and Ben B. keep printing 24 / 7.
My proposed Mortgage Savings Bonds couldn't be cashed until the mortgages are paid, but they certainly could be sold or traded by their holders on the open market. Savings Bonds are backed by the good faith of the American people; in this case, real properties on which these proposed innovative instruments, Mortgage Savings Bonds, would be written.
We can pay 85 cents on the dollar for the good, 75 cents for the bad, and 55 cents for the ugly; millions of mortgages, refinanced with thirty-year fixed rates, the interest spread, according to the credit worthiness of the mortgagee, running from 3% for triple A, to 7% for sub-prime, late payers rated deadbeat.
This proposed buyout is a reasonable, yes we can do, beneficial refinance program which sickens every bureaucrat in Washington because all of the financial vomit from Wall Street, which nearly killed our economy, all of their algorhythmic paper swaps were based in the beginning on the country's mortgages.
This easy to understand financial miracle will frighten every Member of Congress, too because these giant entities stuff their campaign pockets with huge spendable cash and that source of congressional filth will dry up. The congress doesn't represent you. They are "in it" for themselves!
The simple legislation being proposed here, required to create Mortgage Savings Bonds to purchase every home and commercial mortgage in the country cannot be passed without removing the 535 Members of both ouses and replacing them with you!
Retooling these millions of mortgages, a giant job, can be accomplished with a fail-safe do-it-your self, online program. Those without computer literacy can get their numbers entered by income tax preparers, their fee, Uncle Sam guaranteed.
Every homeowner benefits from a restructured fixed 30 years mortgage at a better interest rate. The world's economy will settle into non-inflationary growth from this mortgage solution. Everyone benefits but the campaign coffers of 535 dreck heads who suck up to Money& Power day in and day out!
We can tack a non-interest bearing 2nd mortgage on sub-prime homes that swapped and sold for twice their value, "tock sick" still, after a 60 percent whack, so people can remain in their sub-prime dream, pay down their debt, and eventually, as prices inch up, their mortgage drawn down, see their liens paid off fair and square, with their equity left intact. This is a healthy way to stabilize sub-prime neighborhoods. A foreclosed house devalues the street.
After our Louisiana styled repurchase, the mortgages on every house in America will be divided amongst bank branches in the same zip codes, for servicing. The ex-mortgage holder banks are compensated for collecting our mortgage payments, on behalf of we, the people, the Mortgage Savings Bond backers.
We let the banks hold 'our' money, twelve payments worth, before they have to begin handing over our ducats to our government in Washington. With a year of mortgage money, banks at the branch level will be flush with liquidity for loans, replacing money central management blew on swap speculations. Bank branches will have money to loan to small business in their zip code, a five minute drive nearby, so the banker can visit the small business and provide capital to the capital hungry businesses in their zip codes.
The Barky Obama bureaucrat approach is to pump up the Small Business Administration and the Federal Credit Unions. The Federal Credit union idea came from an earlier rendition of this essay published here, on these Daily Beast pages.
There will be interest on the Mortgage Savings Bonds with which all the home mortgages were purchased. There will be interest on 'our' money, which we are allowing the banks to borrow from us expressly to loan out to all the businesses in their neighborhoods that require capital, so interest we accrue from our trillion-dollar mortgage purchase is washed by immediately using / loaning the money!
A couple months ago, our Treasury Secretary stated on This Week, With George Stephanopoulos, "A core part of our plan involves making sure banks have enough capital to provide the lending we are going [slur] need to get recovery back on track"
But the banks, as we all know, used our bailout money to purchase other banks instead of loaning the money! And our treasury Secretary is helpless to do anything about it, nor would he care to step on the toes of his super rich associates, noted by Sorkin, above.
Now to the interest on these millions of mortgages: The interest goes to Washington every month! The monthly interest on all the home mortgages in USA, could total 300 billion dollars. That is possibly the monthly take. All the income tax collected from taxpayers, their taxable earnings up to the first 125 grand's worth, might also total the same 300 billion dollars per month.
We don't know, but the numbers might be very close.
The interest on all our home mortgages can replace our income tax, up to the first 125 thousand dollars worth of taxable income! (There are people who visciously attack me on these pages, but I take pride in these original ideas). Someone who rents benefits with their income tax dollars in their own pocket to do with as they please, pay down credit card debt, save up for a house, a car, the kid's tuition, pizza.
Keeping your earnings, eliminating the tax on your hands is a politic idea all of the people can endorse.
A working homeowner is freed from paying income tax. The interest on his mortgage goes for our public works, replacing the tax on his hands. DC has operating capital to run the government. We keep what is ours.
Apply this same principal to commercial mortgages. The mortgages are seized, not the property. Mortgage Savings Bonds are a great rock solid investment. This buyout is fabulous for commercial mortgage holders because so many are facing default.
When the next round of mortgage defaults begins, the dollar will further tank, gold will jump hundreds, and we will be fast heading down the permanent dead end road of a secondary dead beat lender. But we can avoid that position with this innovative approach, applying the e pluribus unum concept of Public Option to our mortgage default crisis.
The commercial property advantage: their property is purchased, the mortgage in the Government's hands, via Mortgage Savings Bonds, letting the owners off the hook, their option, retain property management, which earns them money. The principal goes toward retiring the Mortgage Saving Bonds, the interest to cover the rising cost of living, example Medicare, so life is good for all.
The above program provides permanent income tax relief for our citizenry, toxic asset relief for bogus banks, and effective capital replenishment for the government. With this mortgage innovation in place, other countries will again be lining up to invest in America.
Relative to my independent campaign for president of United States, 180 million taxpayers will vote for these recession stuffing relief measures in a heartbeat because every taxpayer benefits.
President Obama should read this essay. His approach feeds the bureaucracies that fed his campaign by printing trillions of dollars in future debt, Obama's risk: a stick of chewing gum will cost our gum chewing electorate one dollar plus tax before the next election, his Nobel Prize, a send-home after one term.
This innovative program bypasses bureaucracies, the only ego inflated creatures on planet earth that both feed on themselves, and multiply. Can you suck on your toe and create two of you? Bureaucracies can and do. Bureaucracies are rigid, appearing unsinkable, though protected by the president, but they must be "sliminated" for planet health.
We need to rearrange world wide how governments generate money so the funds are available to cleanly reenergize our good ship Mother "Urf." The above program is a major rearrangement, a plank in my independent campaign for president.
michaelslevinson.com
If anyone wants a real laugh, please check out oliverckerr's website above at michaelslevinson.com. If he's truly a candidate, he's the Norman Bates of presidential politics.
Oliverckerr, is mommy dead or living?
What does my mother say on the web site?
"Mommy," is insulting to my mother. Big mistake to insult my mother.
She suggests that when you work in my campaign for president, beause the matching funds law is a giant ponzi scheme of government matching cough ups, you, the "campaign volunteer" stand to make a couple hundred dollars a day, the hard way, every day.
What you need to do is look at the growing batch of videos at youtube.com/poetprophet and then judge how many people are going to positively respond to the refreshing image on the screen?
Everyone who works in the information spread will earn a couple hundred a day. My mother wants kids to do the work and make the money. You can write her an email. address it
Dear Michael's mommy,
I don't guarantee she will let it slide without correcting you, but maybe.
michaelslevinson.com
Mikey, learn to spell, and keep it short.
You are becoming a "blog hog"...that's pretty clever a "blog hog"
Blog hog. Very clever, yapp, for a worm head. You might try my name the way it is spelled. Respect your elders.
michaelslevinson.com
Awright you guys. Lev will probably take my "worm"head off for this post, but here goes. His posts do tend to run too long, teetering on the brink of hogging the blog.
But, if you can skim through them, pick out a few apples, and separate the artist from the idea of "running for Pres." he is one interesting character.
You and I know that our political system is horribly corrupt, and that even if the poet/philosopher were to be elected President, with his nice Jewish Mother as advisor, he would not be able to reconstruct our entire system.
I hope, however, that this original voice will continue spicing up the blog with his "outside of the box" ideas. By the same token, I hope oliver sees that short sound bites will enhance the insertion of his positrons into the atomic structure of our collective cyberbrain, such as it is.
It seems that in 1998, Brooksley Born, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to regulate Derivitaves Trading, saying that it would bring the economy to it's knees if they ever had a meltdown. It was and still is unregulated. She was slapped down by Rubin, Greenspan, and Summers. Incidentally, Geithner was Rubin's number one at the time. So really we can say he was partially responsible for the Meltdown of 2008, or that he should have seen it coming.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/brooksley-born-on-pbs-frontline-ton ight-talking-about-the-financial-crisis/.
Amen! And Clinton let Wall St. roll him because he needed their support or he would have been the first US President ever to have been kicked out of office. To avoid this, he did things like let Wall St. turn itself into a big bucket shop/casino and he pardoned Marc Rich, and who knows what else. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and he's still out their plucking away, no doubt! George Patton
"repeated approaches by banks and insurance companies to Warren Buffett"
LOL don't you really mean begging Buffett to save their sorry asses?
Does Mr. Sorkin realize that he's incriminating the Obama administration for causing the continuing dismal state of the economy? He's got an opportunity to blame Bush & Hank Paulson for at least the first $700 Billion worth of insane corporate welfare, and he *could* write that off as just another Republican "give to the rich" scheme... Except, instead, he's exposing that in fact, our current Treasury Secretary was even responsible for the first round. Stupid.
This is ridiculous. You are praising the arsonist for returning to the scene of the crime and putting out the fire...which hasn't exactly happened yet, either. Brilliant! Nearly as brilliant as our Firefighters who have perfected the crime...especially in Southern California.
And who exactly was overseeing the CDO's and CDS's that went untraded, and without a cash market, just before they fell into oblivion, simply because there isn't that much money in the world to begin with?
The Financial System slipped the Economy a 'mickey' and you want to cheer the event?
You are kidding, right?
If saving Wall Street from its greed, folly and corruption in the Second Gilded Age of the last 30 years is "heroic", then Geithner is a real hero.
What about the real economy, though? What about all the common people out here in TV Land who are not benefiting from the big Monopoly game on Wall Street?
Tax cheaters of the world unite!!!
The IRS does not let tax cheaters off the hook, nor does the legal system. You show incredible ignorance as to his tax situation.
Anybody can play on WS today, it was not so before Ronnie took office.
cbeenthere, of course they let tax cheaters off the hook, Geithner being one of them.
Another sorry note is the chairman of the ways and means committee is also getting a pass on his tax problems
Appleseed
Rangle is another matter. But I believe that will be up to the IRS to determine whether or not he is a cheat. However, Geithner was not a cheat.
Did you really forget about 401'Ks?
Further mchugh-
In 1981, you had to have $25,000.00 cold, hard cash before you could even look at any mutual fund.
mcmchugh99: If the financial industry had fallen, we would be in the middle of a world-wide Great Depression II, with unemployment in the 20% range.
Common people on main street would be hurting far worse than they are now.
Review the history of the Great Depression if you have any doubts about this.
Real unemployment, (under-employed, long-term unemployment), realistically IS probably around 20%.
Not only what you say is true, but the country would have lost it's complete national security. We would have been vulnerable to every vulture on the planet. So, as distasteful as the Wall Street bailout was/is, there is no way the government (under Bush or Obama) could have allowed the banks to go down. The first duty of any President is to keep the country safe.
After a year's time, it would seem some of the posters here would be more informed about the big picture and the consequences of a complete financial meltdown.
We are in a depression, a controlled depression, which would have been more severe than the Great Depression if the monetary authorities hadn't provided unprecedented fiscal stimulus (printing money, in the vernacular). Nonetheless, unemployment the way DOL measures it based on unemployment claims is one thing. The percentage of unemployed or severely underemployed (McJob type workers who have "real" skills) in the US is running close to 20 percent right now, I'd say. George Patton
WOW Georgette Patton actually posted and didnt blame Bill Clinton.
Pathetic,
Giving Geitner and the rest of these crooks a pass because they pumped 3-4 trillion into the financial system, after they enabled the theft of trillions..
Heck the wall street rally we are seeing is in part due to a severely depreciated dollar. This is the first time in my life where I have seen both Gold and the DOW track simultaneously inverse to the dollar.
It aint over and it will get uglier.
Sorkin is an Obama butt boy. Every time I see him on TV it looks like he is looking around for a pat on the head from his mother, or Obama.
Good comments until neverlate to hate has something ugly and meaningless to spew.
Right - we are being raped and pillaged by these people, and Sorkin is turning them into heroes, and I am suppose to be civil. Wake up.
Really, all you have to do is admit you don't know what the he** you are talking about.
neverlate
neverlate is just another conservative extremist, Desertpenguin.
Best not to feed the trolls...
Isn't Sorkin a "Wall Street" guy ?
Wall Street is all giddy thanks to the taxpayers' Bail Out,
the same taxpayers Wall Street refuses to
Lend Us OUR OWN Money.
Don't get carried away Wall Street.
Main Street is still suffering from job losses,
and I wouldn't be surprised if there's another
bubble burst,
whereby Wall Street will be back on their knees
begging for more.
Why did we bail them out . . . if it just leads to another
collapse ?
When I told my co-workers four years ago that
a huge housing and economic collapse
is coming because of unsustainable
rising housing costs, and an economy
that's relying on lot of speculative
Bull Shit Artists . . . they laughed at me.
HELLO !!!!!!!!!!
WE DON'T MAKE ANYTHING ANYMORE.
Geithner, " HERO ? "
This all sounds so premature.
Is there " GOAT " in Geithner's future ?
You are not the only one who had a hunch Sophia, unfortunately, Bush & Co was in charge.
Leaving the hyperbole aside - Sophia's comment is essentially right - There have been virtually no productivity improvements in the economy since the Bush election . The public conflated the rise in home prices for a rise in value.
llplo
I find the constant claim that Geithner is a tax cheat offensive. He did not pay his own and the employers share of SS and medicare while working for the IMF through oversight, not deliberate. IMF paid his income tax, but not SS and medicare. As you say he turned his taxes over as many of us do when it gets complicated, and that was a complicated and not illegal arrangement.
and I know it is not you, it is the Fox followers.
This man has spent his whole career in finance. Can you posters make that claim? If not, STFU.
Spending his "whole career in finance," you'd think he'd know how to pay his taxes ?
Actually, great irony. He makes a hero out of the one guy who robbed the candy store while everyone else was hitting up the bank.
Sophia
If you were as smart as you claim to be, you would be aware of what happened in regard to his taxes. I have previously explained it to you dull posters who keep claiming he was a tax cheat; that he had, a yes, "legitimate" tax problem, I, however, refuse to do it again. Keep making stupid remarks you broken record. It doesn't cut any ice anymore, you just make yourself sound ignorant.
And if you were the least bit interested, you could read the WSJ article or Wikipedia. However, I doubt you will be able to comprehend, one, because you have no desire, and two because it is way above your ability to handle complications. Therefore, you keep repeating misinformation, and seem to be quite satisfied with yourself.
There are many different kind of finance work. If you do accounting, doesn't mean you know how to structure an M&A deal. If you do M&A, doesn't mean you know taxes or accounting. I studied finance but know very little about taxes and have a tax accountant because I have very little interest in taxes and I pay a lot of taxes.
Finance is based on economic principles that are severely outdated at best and originally highly fictional at worse.
A simple reading of a basic economic textbook will open one's eyes to this quick enough, but when you start hearing terms 'calculus', that means that it is assumed change in the future can be calculated.
Saying that this man has spent his whole career in finance, therefore should be trusted on real economics, is like saying a man has spent his whole career in the priesthood, therefore should be trusted on rationality and practical wisdom. In both cases, they drank the kool aid.
People do not realize what was done and how close we came to a total global economic collapse and by a hair was pulled back from the brink.
None of the people responsible for doing this huge and almost impossible thing have been recognized for what they did or thanked or appreciated.
People like Geithner, who gets beat on daily by all sides as well as his boss, Obama.
Sadly, we have far too many who are ignorant of facts and much too loud in voicing their ignorance while not realizing they know nothing. They just make broad sweeping negative statements.
And preen.
The fact is that a year ago we were staring the second Great Depression in the face and allowing our financial system to collapse would have set off a worldwide global collapse.
Like it or not, the banks needed to be saved in order to save our economy and the world's.
And, cat who are you talking to, take the time to read posts before you lecture, if you are referring to been, not preen. Where did I express opposition? Stop drinking.
And keep the players straight.
Either give posters the courtesy of reading their posts, or lecture someone else.
maybe this was in the wrong place and probably not directed at you cheenthere (I agree with many of your posts). I have to agree with vwcat12. It would have been a disaster if the financial system was not bailed out.
cbeenthere: I think vwcat12 meant "preen" as in "To take pride or satisfaction in (oneself); gloat."
I don't see him mentioning you as far as I can tell. You might be a bit oversensitive.
Like Llplo99, I agree with both of you.
That is a singularly stupid assertion that passes for conventional wisdom. There is not a scintilla of evidence to suggest (much else prove) that "the banks NEEDED to be saved in order to save our economy..." Perhaps the correct policy response would have been to protect depositors but banks hardly. What people fail to understand is that the essential forces underpinning the economy are natural. Sure the decline would have been steeper, but it would not have lasted nearly as long and the recovery would have been healthier and a lot more equitable.
Thanks, artois, for some wise comments.
Thought it was Paulson who was on his knees begging Pelosi for the money? Seriously, saving these private institutions? Particularly when they are all about 'creating wealth and making money' is the ultimate scam. Like giving a mink coat to a rattle snake. They should have taken their lumps for their bad decisions.
Sure about that? Areas dependent on small local banks seem to have been doing pretty well, compared to those who were entirely dependent on our, "too big to fail" buddies.
Which banks needed to be saved is the better question. The response to this crisis has been the same as a junkie's in need of a fix. Along with the 'one more hit' mindset. Fine, for the guy on the street. However, in our financial system and governmental system there is too much splash damage, (almost exclusively) hitting those who were uninvolved in the first place.
Geithner a hero? Excuse me while I barf. He was a part of the problem; maybe that's why he knew what to do. But we should have let all these investment banks fail and given the TARP money to every person living in America. Then the money would have kept us in our homes while we started new businesses. Just wait until the effing banks fail again, and soon, but we have no more money for them or anything else.
It seems that in 1998, Brooksley Born, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to regulate Derivatives Trading, saying that it would bring the economy to it's knees if they ever had a meltdown. It was and still is unregulated. She was slapped down by Rubin, Greenspan, and Summers. Incidentally, Geithner was Rubin's number one at the time. So really we can say he was partially responsible for the Meltdown of 2008, or that he should have seen it coming.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/10/brooksley-born-on-pbs-frontline-ton ight-talking-about-the-financial-crisis/.
Timmy "the boy wonder of finance is a "SLUG" he had no other option,But to do what he did,they say he could watch them file chapter11 like everyone else,and then start the bailouts and save the consumer first and there nest eggs then,let the gamblers have there homes taken away eat bread and water for awhile and then reconstruct and reregulate Wall st ............! Paulson is the biggest "SLUG"
Hero or heros? Make me grab for my barf bag!! This is a bunch of cronies, in-bred bank execs, only saving themselves. They could care less about the country, otherwise they would stop raping and pillaging and pretending like they were worthy of their behemoth salaries, bonuses and perks.
Or, to put it another way, it would be much easier to jettison these bank and finance execs than any other type of industry or job. We would all get along just fine without them. That is how unnecessary they are to the world.
Andrew Sorken is a pipsqueak that suffers from epistemic arrogance... Before you canonize Timothy Geithner... Watch Frontlines "The Warning" http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/ ... Geithner is big part of the problem and has been since he worked with Summers and Rubin in the Clinton years... In his role with the NY fed he could have stopped the games but he chose to cheerlead... Look what that got the financial system...
Thats funny, when I saw the title "The Real Bailout Hero" I thought he was going to be a picture of my wallet.
Mr. EK, that is one funny post!
I wish I had thunk that'n up.
little timmy geithner, the hero! don't think they will be able to sell that story anytime soon.
Thank you.
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