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Is Timmy in the Well Again?

Posted: October 14, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Team Obama | Tags: , , |9 Comments

Boston Boomer has been updating me on the shenanigans pulled by Timothy Geithner via Ron Suskind’s “Confidence Men”.  I’m hoping she’ll outline all the stuff in a post soon.  I’m sure you remember how Geithner approved Wall Street Executives giving themselves bonuses after receiving TARP funds. There’s substantial evidence that Geithner blocked plans to remove CEO Vikram Pandit and dismantle Citibank.  He evidently had incredible issues with Sheila Bair, is known for throwing screaming fits when his pet Wall Street Banker friends are threatened and evidently ignored the President’s orders to get tougher on Wall Street early in the administration.  Again, I”ll let Boomer flesh it out for you but there’s some really heady information out there about Geithner and his incredible coziness with the shadow banking industry.

Given that context, color me surprised by this Politico headline: Geithner: Action against Wall St. coming.

Asked on CNBC about the Occupy Wall Street movement’s frustrations over the lack of criminal charges related to the financial crisis, Geithner said action is on the way.

“You’ve seen very, very dramatic enforcement actions already by the enforcement authorities across the U.S. government, and I’m sure you’re going to see more to come. You should stay tuned for that,” he said.
…
Geithner Friday said the Obama administration had moved swiftly after the crisis to put into place new protections for consumers and investors.

“We moved very quickly to put in place a much stronger set of rules of the game across the financial sector. Now, we’re now facing a lot of resistance to those rules, but we’re going to make sure that we deliver the promise of those reforms, which is a much tougher set of rules across the system against risk-taking and much stronger protections for consumers,” he said.

Geithner responded to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations by asserting that their unhappiness was due to the sluggish pace of overall economic growth.

“What you see is a general sense across the country of concern that the U.S. economy is not growing faster, you’re not seeing incomes rise more rapidly, and people want to make sure that the government, Washington, is acting to make things better now. As part of that, they want to see us deliver much stronger protections for consumers and investors as an economy as a whole,” Geithner said on CNBC.

The Treasury Secretary added that the domestic focus was to ensure that Congress would take steps that would encourage economic growth and lower the deficit.

“What we’re focused on is trying to make sure that we are doing everything to encourage Congress. … to take some steps now that can make growth stronger in the United States, and tie that to reforms to bring down our long-term deficits,” he said.

Something tells me that the deteriorating political scenario for the President has something to do with this conversation.  However, I will believe it when I see it happen.  Talk show chatter comes so cheap.

9 Comments on “Is Timmy in the Well Again?”

  1. mjames says:
    October 14, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    What a total crock. What enforcement? What protections? What reforms? Sluggish growth? What growth? And, look, back to that deficit hooey. Not a word about jobs.

    Hey, Lassie, rescue somebody who needs it – oh, say, somebody without a job or a home or access to health care or food for the kiddies – but leave that lying sack in the well. When his nose grows long enough (any day now), he can use it to climb out by himself.

  2. bostonboomer says:
    October 14, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    It’s bullshit. He didn’t say one word about jobs, and he implied that wages are rising, although not enough. And he still says the focus is on cutting the deficit.

  3. Branjor says:
    October 14, 2011 at 3:31 pm

    Yes, Timmy’s in the well again. So’s Barry. So am I, but I know Lassie won’t be coming to rescue me.

  4. bostonboomer says:
    October 14, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    Italian students storm Goldman Sachs building in Milan

    The Italian demonstrations are the latest bout of anger at banks and financiers as outcry spreads throughout the world following the occupation of Wall Street in New York by protesters over the past month.

    Students managed to break into the hall of the Goldman Sachs building in the heart of Milan’s financial district, a few steps away from La Scala opera house, police said.

    The protests were quickly dispersed by police and security was restored to the elegant building, though red graffiti was daubed on its walls expressing anger at Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and proclaiming “Give us money.”

    Protesters in Italy’s financial capital also hurled eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit (CRDI.MI), the country’s biggest bank.

  5. Peggy Sue says:
    October 14, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    Too bad we couldn’t elect Lassie. We’d get better results.

    I saw that statement from Geithner and thought: he must feel a chill down his spine. The WH’s internal poll numbers must be withering. And Obama running around the country waving his failed Jobs Bill isn’t convincing and isn’t leadership. It was only a few months ago that David Plouffe insisted that jobs would not figure into the 2012 election:

    “The average American does not view the economy through the prism of GDP or unemployment rates or even monthly jobs numbers,” Plouffe said. “People won’t vote based on the unemployment rate, they’re going to vote based on: ‘How do I feel about my own situation? Do I believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family?’”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-07/unemployment-rate-won-t-hobble-re-election-david-plouffe-says.html

    Well, that bit of wisdom certainly isn’t holding up. And neither is the Administration’s credibility.

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