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To: Road Walker who wrote (502369)	8/7/2009 10:24:44 AM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 1573558

Chief of Staff is a political job? Yes, with Hussein it is. Carol Browner - Socialist International member So? We're talking competence here. One, she isn't competent. Two, she's a political appointee. Hussein being a socialist himself. Timothy Geithner - in addition to being a tax cheat, he's a failed bank regulator. He saved your ass from a depression; say "Thanks!". Geithner's Stress Test "A Complete Sham," Former Federal Bank Regulator Says Posted Apr 06, 2009 10:00am EDT by Aaron Task in Investing, Recession, Banking Related: UBS, C, BAC, XLF, SKF, FAS The bank stress tests currently underway are “a complete sham,” says William Black, a former senior bank regulator and S&L prosecutor, and currently an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. “It’s a Potemkin model. Built to fool people.” Like many others, Black believes the “worst case scenario” used in the stress test don’t go far enough. He detailed these and related concerns in a recent interview with Naked Capitalism. But Black, who was counsel to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board during the S&L Crisis, says the program's failings go way beyond such technical issues. “There is no real purpose [of the stress test] other than to fool us. To make us chumps,” Black says. Noting policymakers have long stated the problem is a lack of confidence, Black says Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is now essentially saying: “’If we lie and they believe us, all will be well.’ It’s Orwellian." The former regulator is extremely critical of Geithner, calling him a “failed regulator” now “adding to failed policy” by not allowing “banks that really need desperately to be closed” to fail. (On Saturday, Geithner said on Face the Nation, if banks need "exceptional assistance" in the future "then we'll make sure that assistance comes with conditions," including potentially changing management and the board, but did not say they'd be shut down.) Black says the stress test must also be viewed in the context of Geithner’s toxic debt plan, which he calls “an enormous taxpayer subsidy for people who caused the problem.” The fact bank stocks have been rising since Geithner unveiled his plan is “bad news for taxpayers,” he says. “It’s the subsidy of all history." finance.yahoo.com

To: Road Walker who wrote (502369)	8/7/2009 10:26:48 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573558

Geithner's Outburst Gets Two Thumbs Down Geithner is falling apart. Moe Tkacik\|Aug. 4, 2009, 12:53 PM\|18 PrintTags: Wall Street, Tim Geithner, Economy, Politics We were shocked to read last night that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had delivered an expletive-filled tirade to a team of financial regulators. From the Fed chairman to whom Geithner's plan would assign more power, to the FDIC chairman the proposal conspicuously ignores, all the major financial regulators have had constructive criticism. It was last Friday that Geithner blasted his fellow regulators. While we don't imagine the performance impressed Sheila Bair or Ben Bernanke, it went over even worse with pundits, who universally rated the performance "junk" and put Geithner's career outlook on credibility watch. Most blamed Larry Summers for orchestrating the thing; one suggested the president hold a press conference and wash both mens' mouths out with soap. We pulled some of our favorite reviews: Economist's Free Exchange blog: Still, if ranking legislators of both parties are sceptical about the plan to further empower the Fed, I'm not sure what is accomplished by yelling at regulators, except for: a) catharsis on Mr Geithner's part, and b) optics. Dealbreaker's Greg Michaels: Drawing on his ongoing home selling frustrations, TG told those lucky enough to be in attendance last Friday that "enough is enough" and now is not the time to think through comprehensive financial regulatory overhaul. Apparently at this critical moment what is really needed is unwarranted blind faith in the administration. Zerohedge's "Tyler Durden" On a more serious note, this begs the question: is the SecTsy finally losing it and why? Or, in a Machiavellian ploy of sinister brilliance, did Larry Summers orchestrate all of this by turning off CNBC access at the U.S. Treasury, in hopes of creating a brief but deadly Western standoff between his adversaries (all of them)? Naked Capitalism's Yves Smith: Obama seems unable to recognize he has pinned the fate of his presidency on two people, Geithner and Summers, who are part of the problem. The stillborn PPIP was a terrible idea. Paulson had two efforts on variants of the "buy toxic assets" idea and failed. The stress tests were a farce. The Potemkin reform plan puts more regulatory authority in the Fed, which was far and away, of all the regulators, least interested in supervision. The only thing that the Treasury and Fed have succeeded in doing is cheerleading to get stock prices up so that banks could raise equity at not-hugely-dilutive prices. And over at New York, Jessica Pressler suggests Obama hold a press conference making Geithner repeat all the bad words in public Afterward, Obama will present Geithner with a bar of soap and tell him he has to hold it in his mouth until he reveals who taught him the bad words. Geithner will hold it, eyes tearing, for like five minutes before fingering Larry Summers. Then they'll get sent to a nice hideaway in the mountains to do sharing exercises and we'll get a whole new economic team, with maybe Paul Krugman and that nice Joe Stiglitz. businessinsider.com

To: Road Walker who wrote (502369)	8/7/2009 10:30:54 AM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 1573558

How Citigroup Unraveled Under Geithner’s Watch by Jeff Gerth, ProPublica - January 14, 2009 11:59 am EDT .... But when it came to supervising Citigroup in recent years, the record shows that the New York Fed eased the reins as the company blew billions on subprime mortgages and other risky deals that ultimately forced the biggest bank rescue in U.S. history. .... propublica.org