We believe it’s absolutely impossible to keep a straight face when you hear his latest material. You’d laugh even if he didn’t look like Butthead’s doppelganger.
Government officials just don’t come any funnier than Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
We believe it’s absolutely impossible to keep a straight face when you hear his latest material. You’d laugh even if he didn’t look like Butthead’s doppelganger.
Here he is defending an op-ed he wrote last year when he announced the Summer of Recovery. This is, of course, despite record unemployment, increasing inflation, and an imploding economy.
The guy is a laugh riot.
Geithner tried to blame last week’s awful economic numbers on everything except his failed policies. David Gregory didn’t let him get away with it.
“It’s the weather. It’s the Japanese earthquake. It’s George Bush. It’s the Republicans. It’s gravity. It’s Sagittarius rising. It’s a seasonal adjustment. It’s my mother-in-law. It’s … it’s … it’s … did I mention the Japanese earthquake?”
That’s kind of how it went when David Gregory interviewed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Meet the Press. Geithner tried to blame last week’s awful economic numbers on everything except his failed policies. And then he tried to claim that the bad numbers actually show that things are getting better.
And the nice part – the unexpected part – was that Gregory didn’t let him get away with it.
We hate bad-news good-news jokes, especially when the punch line is “there is no good news.” This is one of those occasions.
We fondly remember the old Abbott and Costello routine “Two Tens For A Five.” Fondly, because the routine was funny, but also because fifty years ago it was just a comedy routine and not government policy. Two tens for a five would be a huge improvement over what’s actually happened:
The Federal government borrowed and spent $5.1 trillion over the past four years to generate a cumulative $700 billion increase in the nation’s GDP. That means we’ve borrowed and spent $7.28 for every $1 of nominal “growth” in GDP.
We hate bad-news good-news jokes, especially when the punch line is “there is no good news.” This is one of those occasions:
In constant dollars, GDP is flat: we got no growth at all for our $5.1 trillion: zip, zero, nada. In constant dollars, the GDP in 2011 might return to the 2007 level, if the economy continues “growing” at the same pace reached in the first three months of 2011. If not, then the GDP will actually be lower than pre-recession levels.
We’re glad to find out it wasn’t just our imagination that last year’s vaunted “Recovery Summer” seemed like a typical summer in Anchorage – both lasted about a day. And we have noticed the “unexpected” change in the Democrat and media (yes, still the same thing) rhetoric from “good times are a’ comin” to “things could be worse.”
Unfortunately, we are compelled to add “and thanks to that mountain of useless debt, they will be.”
– Written by Bonfire of the Absurdities
Source: Charles Hugh Smith
Politico’s Mike Allen asked Timothy Geithner if he knew about the IMF’s culture of harassment of women.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used to be a bigwig at the International Monetary Fund. He served as it’s director of Policy Development and Review from 2001-2003.
The IMF has now been exposed as a hot bed (you’ll pardon the expression) of sexual harassment. So Politico’s Mike Allen asked Geithner if he knew about the organization’s culture of harassment of women.
To tell you the truth, we’re not exactly sure what Geithner’s answer was. He stuttered. He stammered. He double-talked. He said words that didn’t link together in coherent thoughts.
Best as we can tell, he finally said, “I’m not qualified to talk about sexual harassment because I’m a man.”
One of the worst non-answers ever from one of the worst non-entities ever.
You have to give Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner points for creativity even if you can’t give him points for honesty.
You have to give Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner points for creativity even if you can’t give him points for honesty.
He’s peered into the official Treasury Department crystal ball and seen a double dip recession in our future. So instead of admitting that Obamanomics has failed, he’s laying the groundwork to blame it on the people who want to reverse those failed policies.
The National Journal covers Geithner’s preemptive butt covering:
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said if Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling and the U.S. defaults on its obligations “this abrupt contraction would likely push us into a double dip recession,” painting the most explicitly dire prediction to date of the consequences of inaction.
In a heavily-anticipated response to Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who asked Geithner to document the economic and fiscal impacts of failing to lift the statutory debt limit, the Treasury secretary detailed a chain reaction that would cripple the economy, costing jobs and income.
A default would inflict catastrophic far-reaching damage on our nation’s economy, significantly reducing growth and increasing unemployment,” said Geithner in the letter to Bennet which was dated May 13. “Even a short-term default could cause irrevocable damage to the economy.”
Of course, this is nothing more than Geithner delivering the Obama administration’s agreed upon message:
“The failure of our policies is someone else’s fault.”
Source: National Journal
The value of the American dollar has been destroyed in the last two years, yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is now defending his “strong dollar policy.”
How do these guys say this stuff with straight faces? The value of the American dollar has been destroyed in the last two years, yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is now defending his “strong dollar policy.”
AFP has the hilarious highlights of the Treasury Secretary’s stand-up routine:
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed Tuesday that the United States would never follow a strategy to weaken the US dollar.”Our policy has been and will always be, as long as I will be in office, that a strong dollar is in the interest of the country,” Geithner said at a New York conference organized by the Council of Foreign Relations.
“We will never embrace a strategy to weaken the dollar.”
It was the first time this year that Geithner had publicly proclaimed a US strong-dollar policy, a mantra of treasury secretaries for more than a decade.
The words “Tim Geithner” and “strong dollar” should never be used in the same sentence.
Tim Geither is to strong dollar as Jeffrey Dahmer is to vegan.
Source: AFP
Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner announced that the Obama administration was open to seeing a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund.
What would happen if the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States were to announce that the Obama administration was open to seeing a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund? Unfortunately, this isn’t a hypothetical question.
The Micro Effect reports:
US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shocked global markets by revealing that Washington is “quite open” to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund.
The dollar plunged instantly against the euro, yen, and sterling as the comments flashed across trading screens. David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC, said the apparent policy shift amounts to an earthquake in geo-finance.
“The mere fact that the US Treasury Secretary is even entertaining thoughts that the dollar may cease being the anchor of the global monetary system has caused consternation,” he said.
Mr Geithner later qualified his remarks, insisting that the dollar would remain the “world’s dominant reserve currency … for a long period of time” but the seeds of doubt have been sown.
Is Tim Geithner the worst Secretary of the Treasury in the history of the United States? Corruption and ineptitude are bad enough on their own, but seem fiscally lethal in combination.
Source: TheMicroEffect.com
Rep. Rob Woodall, a Georgia Republican, danced around with Tim Geithner and finally couldn’t take it anymore. So he asked the question so clearly and slowly that even a Treasury Secretary could understand it.
Rep. Rob Woodall, a Georgia Republican, danced around with Tim Geithner and finally couldn’t take it anymore. So he asked the question so clearly and slowly that even a Treasury Secretary could understand it:
“This budget never, ever, ever reduces the debt, is that right?”
We knew the answer. You know the answer. But it’s worth investing 22 seconds of your life to watch Geithner say the words.
Senator Jeff Sessions pointed out that President Obama’s budget – the budget Tim Geithner signed off on – contains interest payments and other obligations that are “excessively high” and “unsustainable.” Geithner agreed.
Is this a case of unadulterated gall or sheer stupidity? You watch this clip and tell us if it’s one or the other or if some completely different word come to mind.
Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner testified before the Senate today and got grilled by Jeff Sessions. The Senator pointed out that President Obama’s budget – the budget Geithner signed off on – contains interest payments and other obligations that are “excessively high” and “unsustainable.”
Geithner agreed.
Let us repeat that. The Secretary of the Treasury agreed that spending in the budget he and the President just submitted to Congress is unsustainable.
The inmates are running the asylum.
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said to put Timothy Geithner in a new reality show. It’s called ‘Timothy Geithner Does Small Business’, something like ‘Debbie Does Dallas’.
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus is a funny guy. Last week he facetiously apologized to President Obama for creating 300,000 jobs. This week he came up with a creative way of explaining that Democrats are out of touch with the real world.
“My solution is that you take a guy like Timothy Geithner and put him in a new reality show. It’s called ‘Timothy Geithner Does Small Business’, something like ‘Debbie Does Dallas’, and it ends up the same way,” Marcus explained. ”Basically, what they’re doing to small business is very similar in this case [to what ‘Debbie’ did to Dallas.]”
The only difference, Bernie, is that porn stars get paid when they get screwed.
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, also known as Client Number 9, says Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been screwing the American people for years.
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, also known as Client Number 9, says Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been screwing the American people for years.
NewsMax.org reports the sordid details of this pseudo-sex scandal:
…Spitzer cites a new report on the government bailout of AIG, issued by Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky that reveals that then-New York Fed President Geithner and others capitulated to the very banks they should have been supervising.
After Geithner intervened in AIG’s negotiations with its counterparties, which included Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and UBS, they received 100 cents for every dollar the giant insurer owed them, even though they were ready to accept much less.
Geithner’s intervention added at least $13 billion to the bailout costs, which taxpayers will ultimately pay.
“Barofsky’s report reads like a case study in failed negotiation,” Spitzer writes in Slate magazine.
“The New York Fed didn’t have the backbone to stand up to Wall Street, didn’t understand its capacity to protect taxpayers, and didn’t appreciate that its responsibility was to taxpayers.”
We think Spitzer is being a tad harsh. C’mon, Eliot, cut Geithner a little slack. The guy didn’t even know how to do his taxes. So what makes you think he capable of understanding complex financial negotiations?
Source: NewsMax.com
Remember how the media happily bought the Obama administration’s TARP storyline back in August?
Remember how the media happily bought the Obama administration’s TARP storyline back in August?
For example, this report from the New York Times:
As Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit
Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation’s biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.
The profits, collected from eight of the biggest banks that have fully repaid their obligations to the government, come to about $4 billion, or the equivalent of about 15 percent annually, according to calculations compiled for The New York Times.
That’s great news! TARP was pure genius. Give Obama a Nobel Prize in Economics to go on the mantel next to the Peace Prize. Except for one thing.
As the Naked Capitalist said, “Credit 101 is that your best borrowers repay first (unless you gave them overly generous terms, of course, then they might hang on to the proceeds). A quick but not conclusive search suggests that only a small portion of the TARP has been retired, so it is wildly premature to declare victory.”
Wildly premature, indeed, considering the latest news from Bloomberg:
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says this economy, inlcuding unemployment, is very healthy, Easy to say when you have a government job.
There’s an old joke that says, “When you neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession. When you lose your job, it’s a depression.”
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner still has his job, so things are a-ok in his book.
“What the economy is going through is a necessary and very healthy adjustment as families and the government of the United States goes back to living within their means. That is causing a greater contraction in demand for credit than we normally see in recessions. And you’re seeing a very healthy increase in private savings behavior and partly in response to that. I think those are necessary, healthy dynamics although they will produce a slower recovery.
We would like to propose the Corollary to Geithner’s Law:
When your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession. When you lose your job it’s a depression. And when Tim Geithner loses his job, it’s a celebration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sk1FoPJc0IWe’re living in historic times and there was another historic first for the Obama administration yesterday: an admitted tax cheat introduced a tax reform program.
Yes, the Obama administration announced a plan to reduce tax evasion by companies with overseas operations. And the plan was introduced by none other than Treasury Secretary “Turbo Tax” Timothy Geithner.
Media bias being what it is, we didn’t notice any of the mainstream media outlets actually reporting it this way. But the irony is so rich that you really have to wonder how they could have ignored it.
Here’s how Geithner introduced his Fearless Leader:
Mr. President, when you took office, you promised to reform our tax code so that it would be more simple and more fair for hard-working Americans. And you promised to ensure that our tax dollars would be used to strengthen the American economy, and American competitiveness. Today, we are taking another important step towards those goals by ending indefensible tax-breaks and loopholes which allow some companies and some well-off citizens to evade the rules that the rest of America lives by. We believe in a level playing field…the Internal Revenue Service, under the strong and able leadership of Commissioner Doug Schulman, are making an unprecedented effort to upgrade and strengthen enforcement capacity. The President’s budget will add up to 800 full-time IRS employees devoted to detecting and bringing to justice those who unlawfully hide assets and income.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Geithner.
Why pick on companies with overseas operations? Hell, Obama could probably balance this bloated pig of a budget if he merely got all the Democrats to pay their back taxes.
Source: NewsBusters.org
Here’s how Byron York explains it in the Washington Examiner:
“…the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the “Pay for Performance Act of 2009,” would impose government controls on the pay of all employees — not just top executives — of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.
The purpose of the legislation is to “prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards,” according to the bill’s language. That includes regular pay, bonuses — everything — paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The measure is not limited just to those firms that received the largest sums of money, or just to the top 25 or 50 executives of those companies. It applies to all employees of all companies involved, for as long as the government is invested. And it would not only apply going forward, but also retroactively to existing contracts and pay arrangements of institutions that have already received funds.
In addition, the bill gives Geithner the authority to decide what pay is “unreasonable” or “excessive.” And it directs the Treasury Department to come up with a method to evaluate “the performance of the individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates.”
Tim Geither, an ineffective, unelected appointee, gets to decide what’s unreasonable or excessive? Take a long, hard look in the mirror, Tim. Then hand it over to Barney and let him take a look, too.
Those images you see — that’s what unreasonable and excessive looks like.
Source: Washington Examiner
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s latest bailout plan is causing a personal crisis of confidence for Paul Krugman, the New York Times’ Nobel-prize winning economist.
The plan is supposed to convince private investors to take up to $1 trillion in toxic assets off the hands of troubled banks.
“This is more than disappointing,” Krugman said in the Times. “In fact it fills me with a sense of despair.”
“It’s as if the president were determined to confirm the growing perception that he and his economic team are out of touch, that their economic vision is clouded by excessively close ties to Wall Street. And by the time Mr. Obama realizes that he needs to change course, his political capital may be gone.”
You know things are bad when we’re not pleased by anything that causes despair in Paul Krugman.
Source: New York Times
Just a few short weeks ago, we were told that Timothy Geithner was “the only man who understands how the TARP works.” His nomination was just toooooooo important to fail. The fate of the world rested in his capable hands.
Uh-oh. Now we find out he was the Einstein behind the AIG bonuses. It was his baby, baby.
Keep in mind, the number of Republicans who voted for this fiasco could meet in a phone booth.
Republican Senator Jim DeMint has had enough. He’s had it up to here. He’s calling on President Obama to cut his losses and send Geithner off on an early retirement before he does any more damage.
The first video shows Geithner ‘fessing up. The second video shows DeMint freaking out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0NrPTMDfPA Senators chastise Timothy Geithner like an unruly schoolboy. Wall Street laughs at him. And potential assistants avoid him like the plague. It’s quite a comedown for the guy who was called “the smartest man in Washington” just two months ago.
Now prominent New York attorney H. Rodgin Cohen has become the latest Tim Geithner nominee to withdraw from consideration for the No. 2 job at the Treasury Department.
Fact is, the Obama administration is having big trouble filling posts at the Treasury Department. Geithner is the only nomination that’s cleared the Senate confirmation process.
A story earlier this week said:
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is practically alone on the job, working night and day to cope with the worst economic downturn in decades.
Of the 15 key Treasury Department positions that require Senate confirmation, only one has been filled. Stuart Levey, a leftover from the previous administration, who as under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, is not central to the crisis management however.
Unemployment figures which revealed Friday that 651,000 jobs were lost in February, showed the recession is running ever deeper, but Geithner, who started work in late January, has no deputy secretary, no under secretaries for international affairs and no deputy under secretaries.
With that in mind, that image of Tim Geithner toiling away at an isolated desk in the middle of a warehouse-sized office, dining on a cold pizza and a warm beer, we dedicate this song to the overworked and under-appreciated Secretary of the Treasury.
Source: Associated Press
Team Obama just can’t seem to set its starting line-up. Nominees, potential nominees, and rumored nominees continue to drop like flies.
Annette Nazareth, a former commissioner with the SEC, made “a personal decision” and pulled her name from consideration to be Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s top aide.
Then, in a huge blow to TV viewers around the world, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, said he no longer wanted to be considered for the Surgeon General job because of “personal reasons.”
Seems to us that “personal reasons” has now become Liberalese for “I haven’t paid my taxes for the last seven years?”
UPDATE: Now a third potential member of Obama’s team has bailed. Caroline Atkinson, nominee for undersecretary of international affairs, has also withdrawn from consideration.
Al Franken, the Minnesota Democratic senatorial candidate, apparently considers Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle to be role models. Because the unfunny former comedian still owes more than $70,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties to 17 states.
When the problems were discovered, Franken immediately threw his accountant of 18 years under the bus. The poor accountant could only say, “I’ve been told to say ‘no comment.’”
Referring to Daschle’s withdrawal, President Obama said, “Ultimately it’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules. You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.”
If Franken’s senate bid proves unsuccessful, Obama is reported to be considering him for a position in his administration. “He has all the qualifications we’re looking for,” said one fictional administration spokesperson.
It’s been extensively reported that would-be Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner neglected to pay self-employment taxes from 2001 through
2004. Strike one.
But Geithner has also admitted to cleverly – but illegally –deducting the cost of his kid’s summer camp as a “child care” expense. Strike two.
In addition, he neglected to pay taxes and penalties on an early withdrawal from a retirement plan. Strike three.
Finally, he took an improper business deduction, an improper charitable-contribution deduction, and tried to deduct personal utility costs. Strikes four, five and six.
Fact is, Geithner has a 15-year record of dodging taxes by taking deductions that range from highly aggressive to obviously illegal to fanciful.
Way to go, Mr. Geithner. We consider you an inspiration to small taxpayers everywhere. Make no mistake – we think you’re a crook, but you’re an inspirational crook.
