Meet The Players in Today’s AIG Hearings
There is quite a bit of reading on this today:
• ‘It All Came Together’: Emails Reveal Fed Staffers During AIG Crisis (WSJ)
• Two at Fed Had Doubts Over Payout by A.I.G. (NYT)
• Geithner Defends AIG Rescue as TARP Watchdog Probes (Bloomberg)
• November 2008 BlackRock Paper for Accepting Much Less than Par for AIG Paper (BlackRock)
Via the WSJ’s Dealbook, here are the players who will be testifying at the congressional hearings on AIG today.
Timothy Geithner, Treasury secretary; former Fed Bank of New York president
Thomas Baxter, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program
Elias Habayeb, the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the AIG Financial Services Division
Henry Paulson, former Treasury Secretary
Stephen Friedman, a Goldman Sachs Group director and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
More on this later . . .
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Source:
The AIG Hearings
Stephen Grocer
WSJ, January 26, 2010
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/01/26/pre-gaming-the-aig-hearings-what-you-need-to-know/
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January 27th, 2010 at 8:13 am
“Stephen Friedman, a Goldman Sachs Group director and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York”
He is also one of the best “market timers” in the business….
New York Fed Chairman’s Ties to Goldman Raise Questions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124139546243981801.html
January 27th, 2010 at 9:08 am
When the history is written, the AIG bamboozle should go down as the greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated by government. Per the digging of Zero Hedge and the work of Brad Fiderer over at Huff Po (shockingly) amongst others, it appears that the AIG situation combined all of the worst elements of our crony capitalist economy, with: government intervention causing imprudent financial innovation and speculation, moral hazard, major conflicts of interest, Fed intimidation, the banking cartel gaming the system, a variety of potentially illegal actions and the corrupt bailout (of US AND FRENCH(!?) institutions) itself being hoisted on the back of the taxpayer. For an in-depth look at the evidence, check out this piece: http://socialistsatthegate.blogspot.com/2010/01/aig-hellstorm.html
January 27th, 2010 at 9:27 am
I would watch but I have a feeling they won’t admit to commiting crimes or insider dealings, only more “mistakes were made” or “had to save the system”. Instead I will watch clouds , it’s more interesting and will have the same effect on reform or informing this hearing will have.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:55 am
On the contrary I will be very interested to having C-Span , as CNBC cuts away to commercials , in the background at my digital studio because of 2 key guests ,Henry Paulsen who , just as a for instance , reveled during questioning at his last appearance that he *never* used *emails* for his inter-office communication. Considering the email trail that tiny Tim will have to answer for one can understand why . My immediate knee-jerk impression was just how can anyone be Sect. of treasury and *refuse* to use email . The Senator didn’t follow up and neither did the any of the press pick that little info-nugget. I could go on but shan’t. Never saw Paulson hem & haw ,& hedge his oh-so cautious words until he became Sect. of Treasury. All I know is that the moment Bush retired John Snow with GoldmanSachs-man Paulson I immediately knew something troubling was up.
The other guest worth watching will be Neil Barofsky who , along with Elizabeth Warren , has the kind of no bull matter-of-fact perspective that Ritholtz represents and is appreciated well for . Thus Barofsky will be able to rebut all of the Wall St. bull that Paulson & Geithner will be serving up their sermons on the mount testimonies.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:12 am
On Cspan 3: Just got to love Timmy G. preening around the conference room shaking hands and backslapping congressmen like an untouchable capo before the hearings start.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:35 am
At the end of Paul Erdman’s “The Silver Bears”, the principals gather around and as the “Doc Fletcher” character tells the assembled parties “Now, we’ve got to decide who goes to jail.”
Will Tim Geithner play the part played by Tom Smothers in the film version?
He certainly looks to be the obvious one to hang all the blame on, if they are unable to shed blame like a duck sheds water … he is certainly the dumbest one of all the perps listed …
January 27th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Boy, Geithner has some strange facial expressions.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:14 am
Hearings, schmearings. Wake when if we ever get to the Federal Criminal Investigation part of the play.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Is it not a crime to lie when one testifies in front of Congress? Geithner claimed he first learned of the AIG bonuses in March 2009 from his staff. Apparently we are to believe that neither he or his colleagues use the internet., where the AIG bonuses were being reported in late 2008. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/11/earlyshow/main4661900.shtml?source=mostpop_story
And then there was the statement that he was not a regulator when he was head of the NY Fed, directly contradicting the NY Fed website.
This guy is a psychopath. Yet one more reason to vote out all incumbents.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:19 am
until maurice (hank) greenberg gets up to testify, these hearings are useless. all you have are politicos testifying about business and basically none of them ever had a real job outside of the government.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Well if this is just the warm-up act to the main event of questioning for Paulson then it should be even more interesting to see the former GoldmanSachs’man Sect. of Treas. will react considering that there was already substantial financial trouble on the horizon when the ideologically correct *asleep at the regulatory switch* John Snow was so very abruptly swapped out by the Bush Admin for Sach’s,an Paulson. To *any* New Yawker this stinks to high heaven as the *fix being in* and that’s where these hearings are going.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Oh, but Geithner recused himself from the decision to engage in a cover-up as soon as he found out that he was going to be nominated for Treasury Secretary.
How convenient for Geithner.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Steal $50 from a 7-11, you go to jail.
Steal a couple hundred billion from the public, well, you can be Treasury Secretary.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Hey , it worked for Robert Rubin and he went on to work for that other well run * let the market go* poster child CitiBank.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
@DL: You can bet some minions in the NYFED are shaking in their shoes right now, because they know they’re likely to be offered up as a sacrificial lamb to cover for Hank, Timmy and company. We have a bunch of gutless faux-”leaders” everywhere gov’t and in the private sector.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
This from the Wall St. big honcho from GSachs helicoptered in to be Bush’s Treas. Sect of the event horiozn of the largest financial debacle since the the Great Depression : ” I have *limited* knowledge of what is immediately of interest to this committee*. Good ol’ bait N’ switch Paulson. Got lover his gall.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
“Stephen Friedman, a Goldman Sachs Group director and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York”
“He is also one of the best “market timers” in the business….”
Forget about resigning from the Fed — I don’t understand why Friedman has not been indicted for insider trading.
From the WSJ link: Friedman says: “I see no conflict whatsoever in owning shares.”
I’m sure he doesn’t see. People with glaring conflicts of interest never see what is obvious.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
There’s a key point right there :”…Goldman Sachs got a better deal than they had a right to expect ( from the so-called free-market )”. Lord this deal stinks even more of *the fix being in*.
January 27th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
All I can say is that Paulson is a liar – outright and the TT is not being truthful.
He claims he knows nothing.. yet who removed the CEO at AIG and put in the GS board member?
January 27th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
There certainly was a lot of “plausible deniabilty” going around in the morning session. Of course Hank didn’t ask how much exposure each bank had to AIG. Such a trivial matter in the grand scheme of things…….So they are throwing Bernanke under the bus?
January 27th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Sadly, there is no bus.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Hope this isn’t the last word on this , but already I’m seeing from the questions asked on cable news interviews on today’s hearings that what’s may be coming out of this is calling ( read supoenas ) for the phone & email records between then N.Y. Fed Pres. Geithner’s & Sach’sman Tres.Sect Paulson’s people between September & November regarding A.I.G. because the patently obstructive language of both Geithner & Paulson pleading innocence by way of ignorance , nay obliviousness , of what was going on regarding A.I.G. decisions to get 100% 0n the dollar while Bear Stearns got the stick.
Now comes the rest of the game , sports fans, with regards to how the media covers today’s hearings. Speaking of Bear Stearns it’ll be interesting to see how Mr. Supply-side Kudlow covers this this evening ….that is if he shuts up long enough from his own brand of bloviating to allow guests to make their points.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Chart showing exactly who got what and how much they got. I got nothing. lol
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-how-the-aig-bailout-worked-2010-1?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CS_COTD_012710
January 27th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Why is everyone taking it as a certainty that AIG’s default represented “the end of the world” with 25% unemployment ?