Gushing NY Times Op-Ed on Timmy Geithner (with AWESOME reader comments)

[MannyGoldstein]

From the op-ed:

Tim, whose last day in the job is today, may have been the host, but in the minds of the 30 or so attendees, the reception was implicitly about his leadership. After all, it was his superb judgment, deep well of experience and extraordinary work ethic that ultimately extinguished the conflagration of 2007-9.

The first comment:

We know that the victors get to write history, Mr. Rattner, but please, show some restraint, and hold off on your "Ode to Tim" until we, who know the truth, are all dead, and our remembrances of "The Largest Transfer of Wealth the World has Ever Seen" is mentioned only in wistful passing by our children's children, or poorly-paid hospice workers as they make final arrangements for us, while also tending to someone mumbling about ice fishing back in the day on hard, frozen lakes, flights of birds blotting out the sun, and beautiful creatures called honey bees.

The people you revere are not content with extracting the blood from us, while scarfing down caviar and pate, contratulating each other for his degree of avarice. We could handle that, but they also want our morrow, and our children's, and Earth's, for they are insatiable.

Many more like this: Timothy Geithners Legacy

[mike_c]

1. insta-rec for the first comment....

Oh HELL yeah.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. 2nd rec.

[wordpix]

6. 3rd, that is a GREAT comment

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Tim had slid into the Treasury seat after a grueling tenure as president of the Federal Reserve Bank

where he steadfastly ignored the shenanigans of his cronies at the banks he was supposed to be overseeing
but managed to file false income tax returns on his Turbo Tax program.

That much brown nosing ought to come with a Environmental Impact Statement.

[wordpix]

9. short, factual history of Geithner's tenure in this pithy comment:

John Santa Cruz NYT

My recollection of Geithner's legacy differs considerably. When Geithner was at the NY Fed, he proposed a simple solution: give trillions of dollars to the banks in order to buttress their ill-conceived positions in the markets. Of course the bankers loved his plan. During Geithner's appointment, we learned that he hadn't paid income taxes for years. We watched as Obama broke his promise to keep lobbyists out of his administration so that Geithner could hire the staff he wanted. When AIG collapsed, Geithner bailed out the banks who had been selling securities to investors while at the same time fraudulently betting against those same securities. Those banks' executives then used this windfall to pay themselves the largest bonuses in the history of finance. Geithner told us the banks paid back TARP with a profit, but he didn't divulge that this was facilitated by over $14 trillion in secret loans made to these same banks by the Fed. Escaping TARP allowed these banks' executives to avoid federal oversight of their personal compensation. Geithner's strategy was simple: in time of crisis, throw enormous sums of somebody else's money at the problem and ensure that those who committed massive fraud and reckless behavior that caused the crisis in the first place could conduct business as usual. Geithner is the big banks' guy on the inside, just watch and see how they reward him now that he is leaving government.

[wilsonbooks]

4. My personal favorite of the comments

Okay folks, no need to get up in arms about this. This Onion article was mistakenly submitted to the New York Times.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. I like this one:

"Unfortunately there are a lot of Americans who cannot "mingle over cocktails and canapes" in ornate buildings because they are living in their cars and getting food from overtaxed charities. Rattner epitomizes the stuffed, self-satisfied elite who never seem to notice the damage they do to people outside their bubble. Geitner was a disaster who coddled the architects of the nation's misery. It's shocking to see such blindness exhibited with such self-congratulation as Rattner displays here."

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. I liked that one, too.

[RufusTFirefly]

7. Some may ridicule, but...

... eating all those canapés was no bed of roses, lemme tell ya.

[wordpix]

8. here's a good comment about a fireman who set the blaze:

"Funny. Why does it feel as if we are celebrating a head fireman for putting out the blaze, but overlooking the fact that he handed out gasoline and matches that set it off in the first place?"

[progressoid]

11. +1

[pscot]

12. Public service is a thankless task

In the face of this kind of cynicism, it's hard to see why any member of the power elite would want to go into government. Other than to cover up their crimes, of course.

[rocktivity]

13. Candidate for this year's "You Call This NEWS?" Awards

Special Achievement Category.

P.S. The comments are closed. Since someone had suggested that the article was actually from The Onion, I was going to write "Consider the source."


rocktivity

[Autumn]

14. I worry about Timmy, Where will he find a job?

Who will create the next financial crises????? I'm not worried about Steven Ratner, he could have a great career as a fantasy writer and make millions. Does no one care about Timmy??

Such cruel comment, especially this one,

This article is a joke, right...? Geithner and Summers and the rest of them deserve nothing but the deep loathing informed Americans feel for them...No matter how much good-ole-boy, self-congratulatory back-slapping they get from their Wall Street cronies...

This article is truly disgusting, and just goes to show us all how out of touch these people are with how much they are truly hated by the rest of us. May their insular bubble burst, sooner rather than later...

A pox on them all...




I eb. from Miami