Geithner is the bad penny. Everything he’s been associated w has been a disaster. His tax fiddling is of a piece w the powers who have moved him up the chain.

To set things right w Big Finance vs the people’s interest, BHO would have to renounce the Establishment that made him. Will he/can he/does he want to?

if you can’t tell the difference between O’Neill and Snow, it says enough, all by itself.

I’m glad you can read the guy’s mind. I’ve gotta call BS on THAT.

I was unaware that the FRBNY president was required to be a social pariah.

I don’t know that the Basel II incident is “proof” of Turbo’s total ignorance, but if Whalen was made suspicious by it, I’d say his suspicions have proven correct. Also, I think most of us understand the FRBNY chief’s role, but there’s so much evidence of personal relationships clouding or guiding policy every step of the way. Many of these lunches and breakfasts were one-on-one meetings, not meetings in which other people from the NY Fed were there. Then there’s the very personal relationships with Weil and Rubin (the latter much talked about). By all means, let’s hate the game, but when your country’s future is at stake, the “player” is going to have to be replaced with someone who’s on our team (like Whalen).

Also, maybe this is just a fundamentally different view of politics, but I don’t think you get extra credit for trying really hard to fix problems you helped cause — just because you work for the government. Re “hindsight” and what he’s had to deal with, I would remind you that many of us were saying the same things back then that we’re saying now. Not everyone in this country went bailout crazy. And even the ones that did were offering suggestions that protected the taxpayer. Geithner has done just the opposite. Screw the taxpayer at every turn — for his own good, because there were no other options. Geithner, of course, thinks he’s done some fine, brave things in the last 18 months. I’ve gotta call BS on that.

My issue with Whalen’s continual tirades against Geithner is that they are based on things like his answer to a question Whalen put to him in a forum in 2005, etc. about Basel II, which to him is irrefutable proof of the guy’s ignorance of anything and everything banking-related. As some of you point out, Geithner may be a patsy here, but I give the guy a fair amount of credit for dealing with what he’s had to deal with at the time, without the benefit of hindsight. I don’t see that he’s had much of a choice in how things have transpired.

The idea that his appointment schedule showing luches with Shittygroup execs is somehow a damning indictment is just silly. Sandy Weill and Jamie Dimon hired him, basically. That’s the way the NY Fed president is hired. Is he supposed to not have any dealings with the members of his board of directors and the major financial institutions? Don’t hate the player, hate the game, as they say.

@Mark

O’Neill and Snow both came from the industrial side, of course, Alcoa and CSX. Look how well they did in their tenures as Treasury Secretaries. They sat around for most of Bush’s first and second terms while the banking system doused itself with gasoline. They thought it would be just dandy to hand Wall St. billions in fees from Social Security taxes. Wonder how that woulda worked out.

My sense is that this short of Geithner is a very crowded trade, and we might get a squeeze here at some point.

* G wants to bail out banks and instill regulations afterward.
* You let him bail out the banks, then he takes the fall pre-regulation.
* The next occupant must smell daisy fresh but be 110% against more regulation.
* You win (until the mobs reinvent the guillotine.)

So who is the next lackey?

American “hegemony” is not equivalent to American power. Yes, I’m aware that if China skips out on the Treasury auctions (because Sec. Whalen restructured Citi) then American “hegemony” (read empire) would end. Sounds good to me.