Geithner Overrules Obama Aides on TARP (existenz)
From the NY Times, it sounds like Tim Geithner is the force behind screwing the taxpayers:
In the end, Mr. Geithner largely prevailed in opposing tougher conditions on financial institutions that were sought by presidential aides, including David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, according to administration and Congressional officials.

Mr. Geithner, who will announce the broad outlines of the plan on Tuesday, successfully fought against more severe limits on executive pay for companies receiving government aid.

He resisted those who wanted to dictate how banks would spend their rescue money. And he prevailed over top administration aides who wanted to replace bank executives and wipe out shareholders at institutions receiving aid.


Our best hope is that public outrage is strong enough that Geithner will be forced, either by Congress, Obama, or market conditions to change his approach on all of these matters. We can only guess at how many hundreds of billions will be put at risk in the meantime.
Two possibilities
(1) Obama thinks that Geithner's plan is best but realizes that he, Obama, needs some distance from it in order to maintain his popularity.  Hence the leaks.

(2) Geithner, having the statutory authority, is planning to use it as indicated, despite being advised by Axelrod that the White House wants to wipe out shareholders and put real limits on executive pay.  If so, Geithner is on thin ice.  His constituency (Wall Street) is losing political power by the day.

For all of you who listened to the press conference, which do you think it is?

Geithner better remember who he works for ..
he works for us .. not Wall Street
[ Parent ]
Congress is gonna tie his hands
At least on executive compensation...

Conduct your own interview of Sarah Palin!
Well
that kind of sucks. But if the report is accurate it is good to see that Axelrod is sticking true to his progressive values. On most things he's going to have a lot of voice and he'll be in the room for pretty much everything, so if he's being a progressive advocate that's a very good sign as no one is closer to Obama then he is (except, of course, Michelle.)

John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power
Good and Bad
The Bad is that it seems Geithner is the Wall Street pawn many felt he was, it seems his sympathies lie with the banks and their shareholders. His public comments say as much, and now these actions only confirm it.

The Good is that there is an opposing force in the WH, and its coming from people close to the President. Axelrod and Co. want bank executives gone and wiping out of shareholders, thats basically nationalization. If Geithner's way doesn't produce results, the naysayers in the WH will hopefully start convincing Obama to change course.

wha tis really important is that we hit the
WH comment page right after geitner lays out the plan tomorrow. There needs to be a huge outcry if these execs get to keep fat salaries for jobs they failed at while the rest of us are getting laid off because of them.
I think the Dodd Ammendment
will take care of the compensation stuff for us. Its really about the entire structure of the bailout, whether you think the beneficiary should be the shareholders, like Geithner, or whether it should be the taxpayer, like Axelrod and co.  
[ Parent ]
Geithner is right
We're trying to get private investment back into the banks, not nationalize them. Government run banks would not encourage private investment.
So Many Fallacies In So Few Words!
[ Parent ]
Agree with Paul...terrible comment pgc...
Banks are NO MORE FAVORED as institutions than any other company. Or should not be. IF a bank fails because it has followed insane banking practices, so be it. It and its shareholders are not special people, entitled to bail-outs, no more than a fanchiser of a McDonald's is.

What you fail to realize is that people's confidence in the banks in general is shaken. Badly. Anything that the government does that does not acknowledge that reality and help restore confidence is doomed to fail.  Nationalizing the banks to stabalize things, restoring confidence, and then gradually turning the nationalized banks back over to private concerns WITH STRICT REGULATIONS is what this country badly needs. BADLY NEEDS.

I continue to hope against hope Geithner is thrown out on his ear before he continues to practice failed economic policies (policies he was complicit in originating) on a public that doesn't want them and doesn't benefit from them.

Until the government STOPS being a government for the banks, by the banks, we are on the precipice of disaster.

[ Parent ]
Thank God Appointees Don't Have Any Impact On Policy!
yeah, I think y'all can chalk this up in
in the "I told you so" category.

New Jersey politics at Blue Jersey.
[ Parent ]
whoever said obama would control geithner didn't know how treasury
worked.  if i remember correctly, there were suggestions that the front pagers start a pro-Bair campaign.  
[ Parent ]
There were no good choices from the A-list
Bair has been shockingly lax on closing bad banks. She'd have been a lot better than Geithner, though - she's been very good on keeping government money for the public good.
[ Parent ]
there's a WaPo article too
which emphasizes the public-private partnership.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...


New Jersey politics at Blue Jersey.

Donate to Open Left
PREMIUM AD

ADVERTISEMENTS


MENU

OpenLeft in your inbox!

 

Or, subscribe to each author individually.
LIBERAL INSTITUTIONS
STATE BLOGS
QUICK HITS

Home | RSS/XML Feed | Register | Contact

  © OpenLeft 2007-2008, Powered by SoapBlox