Geithner and the AIG Emails: Scandal Is Only Tip of the Iceberg -By Eliot Spitzer

[kpete]

Geithner and the AIG Emails: Scandal Is Only Tip of the Iceberg

By Eliot Spitzer and William K. Black and Frank Partnoy, NewDeal 2.0. Posted January 7, 2010.

Now we learn that Geithner told AIG to withhold details from the public about the billions it handed to banks during the crisis.
..........................

Regardless the size of the payments, the Fed's request to suppress both their amount and the parties to whole these payments were made would not have come to light without the release of these emails. Without the rest of the emails, we will be unlikely to fully understand what led to the collapse of AIG and the financial markets. If we can't understand it, we will be unable to prevent it from happening again.

As such, today we are renewing our request for the full public disclosure of all AIG documents. We believe the government should put these documents on-line, thereby establishing an open-source investigation that would allow journalists and citizens the opportunity to piece together the story of what happened at AIG and in so doing more fully understand what happened in the broader financial collapse. AIG -- and more specifically its credit-default swaps exposure -- was an important contributing factor to the crash of the financial markets. What sets this company apart from others that played a role in the crisis is that we, the taxpayers, own it. As we noted in our original piece, US taxpayers bought 80% of AIG when they bailed the company out with $180 billion last year. As owners of the company, taxpayers are also owners of AIG. As owners of the company we can demand the release of these documents.

The taxpayer's stake in AIG is held by the A.I.G. Credit Facility Trust, whose three trustees are Jill M. Considine, a former chairman of the Depository Trust Company and a former director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Chester B. Feldberg, a former New York Fed official who was chairman of Barclays Americas from 2000 to 2008; and Douglas L. Foshee, chief executive of the El Paso Corporation and chairman of the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. We call on these three officials (interestingly all former Fed officials) to immediately release the documents we request.

The value of these documents, if it were ever in doubt, was certainly proved by Thursdays's revelations.

Release the emails.

more:
http://www.alternet.org/politics/145020/geithner_and_the_aig_emails%3A_scandal_is_only_tip_of_the_iceberg

[Romulox]

1. President Obama, ANOTHER failure in leadership is developing...

Letting Geithner fester like a cancer on the credibility of the Obama administration is just bad politics at this time.

[tabatha]

2. I agree with that.

Unfortunately.

[laughingliberal]

8. And here's the incredible part-If this was a liberal adviser who Glenn Beck complained about

over a statement he made a decade ago, his desk would be packed for him and he would be escorted out when he showed up for work.

[Nite Owl]

26. So true

he'd be fired before it even hit the news.

[MsLeopard]

27. +1

So true. He'd be under the bus so fast we'd hardly have time to make room for him.

[Jackpine Radical]

70. Yeah, it IS

getting crowded under here, isn't it?

[Parker CA]

32. Unfortunately that's very true. This is a bad situation currently being ignored by the admin. nt

[lark]

101. Oh, it's way worse than that

This is a very bad situation that has been made worse by the Admin. actions and non-actions.

[Better Believe It]

100. He'd be gone!

[liquid diamond]

139. I have to agree with this.

I find myself sticking up for him a lot here, but Obama has no fucking backbone when it comes to defending his own people from the right.

[Enthusiast]

145. Ahem....

Who are Obama's own people? I'm no longer sure.

[liquid diamond]

153. I was referring to those that work for him.

[bvar22]

44. Heck of a Job, Timmey!!!

President Barack Obama said he has “complete confidence” in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the furor over bonuses paid by American International Group Inc. shows the urgent need to overhaul financial market rules.

In the face of criticism of the Treasury secretary from Republican lawmakers, Obama said Geithner has been making “all the right moves” in dealing with the financial crisis and the situation surrounding insurer AIG.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPNnF.2ezVaY

[Vincardog]

47. What credibility of the Obama administration? The 'No taxes on the middle class' credibility?

How about the 'open transparent government' credibility?
The 'renegotiate NAFTA' credibility?
How about the 'health care for all' credibility?
or the 'no lobbyist in my administration' credibility?

[Enthusiast]

144. It's more poor judgment.

The poor judgment is piling up.

[conscious evolution]

3. Release the docs

They got nothing to hide,right?

[still_one]

16. That is the right answer. Instead of lynch mob mentality, lets get the facts /nt

[spanone]

151. get the facts.....amen

[pleah]

4. K&R

[mbperrin]

5. Release now or fire now!

Release later will mean firing later.

Crooks, crooks, crooks.

[laughingliberal]

6. Time for Timmeh to get his pink slip

No place in 'the most transparent administration in history' for this. His bungling and protection of industry profits should have been enough to put him back in the job market. With this coming out if he is not let go it becomes more obvious the administration intends to continue to benefit the industry to the detriment of programs which could help average Americans.

[Cowpunk]

55. Agreed. Timmeh will be Obama's Rummie. NT

[Krashkopf]

98. Timmy will be Obama's Brownie . . . and Health Care "Reform" will be his . . .

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[HughMoran]

7. Certainly the only way to resolve this is to 'get it all out into the open'

If there was indeed wrongdoing, then heads must roll.

[DisgustedInMN]

9. Geithner should be under indictment...

... instead...

Where is he?

Thanks Barack, you're a fucking peach.

[still_one]

15. "Thanks Barack, you're a fucking peach". WHAT IS THAT ABOUT? Isn't a person innocent before

being proven guilty

I am sure you don't want to hear this, but

Bloomberg reported today, that the emails show no involvement with geithner. Should it be investigated, YES, and let the chips fall where they lie, but your constant bashing of Obama in a lot of your posts makes me wonder what your objective is

[DisgustedInMN]

25. "My objective"??????

All you had to do was ask.

"My objective" is to have MY President put the interests of THE PEOPLE above those of THE CORPORATIONS and LOBBYISTS as HE PROMISED would do when he campaigned for MY VOTE and MY SUPPORT.

Any more stupid questions?

[still_one]

39. Yeah responding to stupid posts like yours /nt

[DebbieCDC]

30. And if this were Bushco's Sec of Treasury you'd be taking this same line right?

Gimme a break.

On edit: Clarify - Replying to Post #15

[still_one]

45. I would want an investigation, and to get the full facts. Unfortunately, none of that was done

during the last 8 years under bush, in regard to Iraq, yellow cake, outing a CIA agent etc. with any conviction, but I hopefully it will be done in this case

[Dr.Phool]

72. Bloomberg got it wrong.

Documents have surfaced in Geithners own handwriting.

See posts below.

[JDPriestly]

73. Link to the Bloomberg article?

If the New York Fed was involved, and Geithner was in charge of the New York Fed, then why do you claim that Geithner was not involved? Please provide a link to the article you are citing.

[laughingliberal]

84. Some people are innocent until proven guilty. Others are fired as soon as Glenn Beck objects to

something they said years ago.

[truedelphi]

129. Well, uh, it is true that Geithner has not been put before a jury and

handed a guilty verdict. Not yet.

But those of us who have been watching the Youtubes of Question and answer sessions in front of Congress, have seen him boldly lie in ways we have not seen for quite a while.

I gave up counting last spring, when he was up to three lies. (It is a felony to lie before Congress.)

But if you do some research (shouldn't take more than fifty five minutes) you will see for yourself that Geithner is not truthful when answering the questions, and for that he could be impeached from office and do some jail time.

Of course, the media now likes Barack and all his Presidential men, so I am not holding my breathe.

[icee]

132. To finally be forthright about our terrible mistake..........nft

ddd

[still_one]

10. Bloomberg reported today that the emails show no geithner involvment. That does not mean

he wasn't involved, but I sure would like to see where the proof comes from, and not just because a lot of folks dislike him and the administration

I would like to see one way or another whether geitner told AIG to withhold details.

If spitzer has actual proof, I want to see it

[liberation]

102. So where is the proof of what you were claiming regarding Geitner's innocence?

Thanks.

[pscot]

127. Since we don't live in Napoleonic France

innocence is presumed, and does not need to be proved. Not only has guilt not been proven, we don't even know if a crime was committed. If Geithner is guilty of something, let's find out what it is, then hang him. Lynching is so last century.

[Solly Mack]

11. k/r

[Nikki Stone1]

142. .

.

[lonestarnot]

12. K & R and JMJ!

[Hawkowl]

13. But Obama is playing chess!

While everyone else is playing Parcheesi! Or is everyone playing Monopoly? Checkers? Oh, whatever. Obama is a superb game player. He's an absolute political genius! By putting the criminals responsible for the economic meltdown in charge of the bailout, Obama is actually focusing hatred away from himself and towards underlings in his administration! Pure genius, super political campaign promise breaker man.

[valerief]

21. It's the chess-lover's sausage-making strategy! nt

[valerief]

22. self-dele, dupe

[Jefferson23]

128. LOL, that was good! n/t

[Warpy]

14. In a perfect world

Geithner would be replaced immediately by an academic who saw all this mess unfolding and who has a clue what to do about it now that it has.

Hapless Holder would be replaced by Eliot Spitzer, whose only crime was that he paid for a high priced prossie out of his own funds to see what the fuss was all about, big woop. Spitzer knows where a lot of the bodies are buried and given the resources, could find the rest.

Of course, we live in an imperfect world where the PTB don't want the mess cleaned up, the bodies uncovered, the guilty exposed, and the financial institutions forced to be something besides casinos for the ultra rich. They are happy with the system as it is, where they can still realize paper profits with little risk.

Only when the PTB are badly hurt and afraid of the mobs at the gate will we start to move in the right direction.

[grasswire]

59. I've been saying this for years

They will only stop when they are made to feel pain. That goes for the wingnutters, the corporatists, the media shills, the power grabbers of one sort or another, the pirates and privateers amongst us. The world would be a better place today if George Herbert Walker Bush had gone to prison for one of his crimes.

[Enthusiast]

146. I hate to agree with that.

I can't see it any other way.

[mod mom]

17. Ever wonder why they spied on Elliot Spitzer?

[lark]

106. That's easy - NO

No wondering here. It was obviously a plan to shut him down and it worked because he's basically a straight arrow. Ensign gets away with worse because he doesn't give a crap, nor does his party.

[Enthusiast]

147. Pretty clear. nt

[kgnu_fan]

18. Eliot Spitzer - the comeback boy!!!!

He does fight!!!!

[still_one]

49. spitzer may be correct on this, but he is a jerk /nt

[JDPriestly]

75. Spitzer may be a jerk, but he is not a criminal.

He hasn't stolen money from anyone. AIG and its co-conspirators pulled a huge fraud on the world. That's a big word for stealing.

[sabrina 1]

112. I never saw him as a jerk. He's done a few things

that he probably regrets like all human beings. But he is a fighter and when he was in charge of ferreting out the bad guys who were stealing the people's money, a lot of people felt more secure that there was someone on the job looking out for them.

The bad guys didn't like him. They feared him as they should. Why they do they fear now? I hope he goes back to work at what he does best. Just knowing he's watching them, should make them nervous.

[Vidar]

19. More duplicity by Geithner & Obama!

[still_one]

20. From a former AG saying "Geithner told AIG to withhold details", when that hasn't been shown is

curious

Bloomberg reported today that the emails do not show geitner involvement. Does that mean he wasn't involved, NO, but we should ascertain that before making the statement that he was involved.

[valerief]

23. Missing emails? nt

[still_one]

24. The emails are not missing. dayrl issa has had them for over 1 year after requesting them

where did I say the emails are missing?

All I want is these emails to be made public, and an appropriate investigation what happened, then let the chips fall where they may

[valerief]

29. Where did I say you said there were missing emails?

I'm asking. Maybe all were not turned over.

[still_one]

35. oh, sorry, I misunderstood /nt

[valerief]

37. np

:hi:

[dreamnightwind]

74. Really?

I didn't see any such statement in this article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a6brnESewBQQ&pos=1

They quote Gibbs as saying Geithner wasn't involved in the emails (whatever that really means) and they quote a Treasury spokesperson who says Geithner played no role in decisions regarding the NY Fed's requests that AIG withhold data. The treasury spokesperson works for Geithner, and the Gibbs statement smells of misleading parsed words that may not mean exactly what they appear to mean.

The treasury spokesperson also says that Geithner "was recused from working on issues involving specific companies, including AIG,” after he was nominated Nov. 24, 2008 by Obama. So, maybe this is the real story and Timmie had nothing to do with it, but again she works for Geithner and her saying it is different than Bloomberg saying it's true.

I found nowhere that the Bloomberg author said the emails do not show involvement. You've made this assertion twice in this thread, do you have an actual source for that assertion or are you spinning what's actually in the article I'm talking about?

[truedelphi]

131. In any case, Geithner has lied. Congress knows he has lied

because they ask him questions at 4Pm on one day and get one answer, (the answer that they want and that ensures the safety of our economic interests) and by noon the next day he is out doing the exact thing he said he wouldn't.

Even in Washington DC, that sort of thing raises red flags.

Lying to Congress can be a felony. And it can result in jail time and it can result in being impeached from whatever office you hold.

[laughingliberal]

135. Here

http://seekingalpha.com/article/181530-aig-geithner-cover-up-the-smoking-gun

[jgraz]

28. Geithner is Obama's Rumsfeld.

Unless Obama plans to steal his re-election, he'd better fire this guy quick.

[flyarm]

36. that won't happen..Obama has made that perfectly clear..

ever think ..Geithner is Obama's handler??

read my other post here..#34

and I believe Spitzer is trying to tell people that without saying it in those words.

One wants to live ..don'tcha know!!

[grasswire]

64. ugh...what a horrible thought

I feel sick.

[KittyWampus]

67. you people need to be consistent. Is it Geithner or Emanuel handling Obama? Make up your minds

[laughingliberal]

80. I'd go with Obama is just fine with these RW economic policies and Geithner, Emanuel, et al are

carrying out his wishes.

If that is, in fact, not the case and someone is handling him and I am limited to picking one handler I'm gonna go with Rahm who carries water for the right wing elements in the administration's economic team.

[flyarm]

114. Lets see Geither goes to Bilderberg meetings..as does Kissinger..

why don't you read this and answer your question for yourself?


Shortly after taking office..Obama asked Henry Kissinger..knick name.."The Butcher of Cambodia"..to represent his administration in Talks with Russia..

lets look as some serious connections here of Geithner , Kissinger and Obama...shall we..( edit to add: much of this i have posted many times in the past.)


TIMOTHY GEITHNER

Biography

Early life and education
Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York.<2> He spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok.<3> He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.<4> He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985.<4><5> He has studied Chinese<4> and Japanese.<6>

Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908.<7> His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York.

During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.<8>

Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

Early career

After completing his studies,

Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988.

He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).<5>

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.<5> Summers was his mentor,<10><11> but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.<11><12><13>



In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.<14> He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003) at the International Monetary Fund.<5>


In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<15> His salary in 2007 was $398,200.<16> Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.<17>


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Timmy's dad :


Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s,

Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by

S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro,

President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once



Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


now this should alarm every true democrat on these boards!!!!!!!


and From an April post of mine here at DU: and please, don't believe me ...click the link..it was in the CFR publication!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009




Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on

February 8, 2009.





"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.




Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar ... ...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Report: AIG bailout money behind banks' recent profitability

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009 /...

snip:
The financial blog Zero Hedge has posted an "exclusive" that claims that according to an insider's account, AIG (yes, that AIG) "was responsible for the banks' January and February profitability."


Saying it is "rarely speechless," ZH offered "a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turns keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good."


ZH says the insider perspective came in an email from "a correlation desk trader." Unless you're a finance whiz (and who is these days?!) you might get lost in the explanation of how AIG supposedly engineered this feat of profitability. But ZH tries to explain the "mumbo jumbo" in "layman's terms":


AIG, knowing it would need to ask for much more capital from the Treasury imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the banks, and even more egregiously money losing to the U.S. taxpayers, who had to dump more and more cash into AIG, without having the U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner disclose the real extent of this, for lack of a better word, fraudulent scam.


In simple terms think of it as an auto dealer, which knows that U.S. taxpayers will provide for an infinite amount of money to fund its ongoing sales of horrendous vehicles (think Pontiac Azteks): the company decides to sell all the cars currently in contract, to lessors at far below the amortized market value, thereby generating huge profits for these lessors, as these turn around and sell the cars at a major profit, funded exclusively by U.S. taxpayers (readers should feel free to provide more gripping allegories).

[flyarm]

self delete..it is sticking!! and repeating!!

[flyarm]

115. delete

[flyarm]

116. delete

[flyarm]

117. delete

[flyarm]

118. Lets see Geithner goes to Bilderberg meetings..as does Kissinger..

why don't you read this and answer your question for yourself?


Shortly after taking office..Obama asked Henry Kissinger..knick name.."The Butcher of Cambodia"..to represent his administration in Talks with Russia..

lets look as some serious connections here of Geithner , Kissinger and Obama...shall we..( edit to add: much of this i have posted many times in the past.)


TIMOTHY GEITHNER

Biography

Early life and education
Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York.<2> He spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok.<3> He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.<4> He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985.<4><5> He has studied Chinese<4> and Japanese.<6>

Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908.<7> His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York.

During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.<8>

Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

Early career

After completing his studies,

Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988.

He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).<5>

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.<5> Summers was his mentor,<10><11> but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.<11><12><13>



In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.<14> He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003) at the International Monetary Fund.<5>


In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<15> His salary in 2007 was $398,200.<16> Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.<17>


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Timmy's dad :


Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s,

Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by

S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro,

President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once



Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


now this should alarm every true democrat on these boards!!!!!!!


and From an April post of mine here at DU: and please, don't believe me ...click the link..it was in the CFR publication!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009




Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on

February 8, 2009.





"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.




Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar ... ...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Report: AIG bailout money behind banks' recent profitability

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009 /...

snip:
The financial blog Zero Hedge has posted an "exclusive" that claims that according to an insider's account, AIG (yes, that AIG) "was responsible for the banks' January and February profitability."


Saying it is "rarely speechless," ZH offered "a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turns keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good."


ZH says the insider perspective came in an email from "a correlation desk trader." Unless you're a finance whiz (and who is these days?!) you might get lost in the explanation of how AIG supposedly engineered this feat of profitability. But ZH tries to explain the "mumbo jumbo" in "layman's terms":


AIG, knowing it would need to ask for much more capital from the Treasury imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the banks, and even more egregiously money losing to the U.S. taxpayers, who had to dump more and more cash into AIG, without having the U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner disclose the real extent of this, for lack of a better word, fraudulent scam.


In simple terms think of it as an auto dealer, which knows that U.S. taxpayers will provide for an infinite amount of money to fund its ongoing sales of horrendous vehicles (think Pontiac Azteks): the company decides to sell all the cars currently in contract, to lessors at far below the amortized market value, thereby generating huge profits for these lessors, as these turn around and sell the cars at a major profit, funded exclusively by U.S. taxpayers (readers should feel free to provide more gripping allegories).


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

No one has to tell you what to think..do your own research..come to your own conclusions..but don't slam others that have done their research and have come to conclusions..

After all Our Constitution says..WE THE PEOPLE..that is you and me and everyone in this country..we all have an obligation to protect and defend our constitution..if you don't look at info..no one can make you ..and you can stay perfectly ignorant to what is going on..but do not smear others who do TAKE THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CONSTITUTION SERIOUSLY..and who do research and who do know what is going on...no one needs to edicate you..you can do that easily enough for yourself.

But do not even attempt to tell me i have to wear the blinders you are!

[midnight]

120. Good stuff. I always wondered about the banking connection...

[JDPriestly]

78. Obama is loyal and has a soft heart toward those who are loyal

to him. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. He wants to be loved by everyone.

A leader has to be willing to be hated by some and to do what is right. Obama has harmed Geithner far more by keeping him on when Geithner obviously is not the right man for Secretary of Treasury at this time than he would have done by gently leading Geithner to the door months ago when Obama had to have know that Geithner was a very bad choice.

Now, Obama is not only hurting Geithner but himself.

Obama and the whole country will pay dearly for the mistake of having chosen Geithner.

Elizabeth Warren should have been named Secretary of the Treasury.

[jgraz]

79. Really? Do you know him personally?

Obama isn't an idiot. If he still chooses to keep Timmeh around, it's because he likes what Geithner is doing.

[JDPriestly]

87. I have watched Obama. I always watch people, and I am usually

a good judge about these things. If you remember, during the primary campaign, each candidate was asked to talk about their failing.

OBAMA: My greatest strength, I think is the ability to bring people together from different perspectives to get them to recognize what they have in common and to move people in a different direction. And as I indicated before, my greatest weakness, I think, is when it comes to -- I’ll give you a very good example.

OBAMA: I ask my staff member to hand me paper until two seconds before I need it because I will lose it. You know, the --- you know...

. . . .
Then Edwards:
EDWARDS: I think my greatest strength is that for 54 years, I’ve been fighting with every fiber of my being.

In the beginning, the fight was for me. Growing up in mill towns and mill villages, I had to literally fight to survive.

But then I spent 20 years in courtrooms fighting for children and families against really powerful well-financed interests. I learned from that experience, by the way, that if you’re tough enough and you’re strong enough and you got the guts and you’re smart enough, you can win. That’s a fight that can be won.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/us/politics/15demdebate-transcript.html?pagewanted=all

So, of course, Obama was a softer touch and was sold to the American people. The last thing that the power elite wants in the White House is a fighter. Obama's human weaknesses have been hidden from us. Edwards were exposed in all their ugliness beginning with the haircut.

And here we are, with Geithner as Treasury Secretary, no real investigation into the torture and deprivation of human rights under the Bush administration, enabling the continuation of the worst fraud in the history of our country on Wall Street, about to get a sham of a health care for all program.

We fall for the glitzy ads every time. And of course those ads cost money -- and, I am beginning to believe, very little of which came out of our or Obama's pockets. I know the campaign claimed that his campaign was funded by "us little folks," but the more I watch what is going on, the less I think that is true. The funding that was accounted for was collected to a great extent by us. But the major contributions were made by the press coverage -- that is primarily funded by big business.

Pictures of Obama smoking were suppressed. Pictures of Edwards coming his hair (who knows what he was thinking about) were shown over and over.

Edwards' affair was brought to light just as his campaign was gaining momentum.

Now both Sanford and Ensign are still in office, but Edwards had to be tarred and feathered and shipped out of town. I was among those who condemned him the loudest, but I am beginning to regret my immediate reaction.

A Democrat should fight for the people. Obama is fighting for big business. We were fooled.

[jgraz]

89. Um... I admit I'm having trouble getting your point.

It sounds like we agree, but you seem sure about Obama's loyalty while admitting how thoroughly he fooled you. Why isn't the simpler explanation that Obama simply wants to help big business more than he wants to help the middle class?

[JDPriestly]

121. I think both are true. Obama is loyal -- to the big business

interests that put him where he is.

Actually, Edwards was my first choice. He and Kucinich were the only candidates who clearly sided against big business in their primary campaign appearances.

I then supported Obama because I am a Democrat and because I thought he would be fine.

He has disappointed me.

[jgraz]

124. Sounds like we're in the same boat.

I also supported Edwards. Too bad he'd already been pre-Spitzer'ed.

[JDPriestly]

123. I think both are true. Obama is loyal -- to the big business

interests that put him where he is.

Actually, Edwards was my first choice. He and Kucinich were the only candidates who clearly sided against big business in their primary campaign appearances.

I then supported Obama because I am a Democrat and because I thought he would be fine.

He has disappointed me.

[midnight]

155. Well said."Edwards' affair was brought to light just as his campaign was gaining momentum."

Now both Sanford and Ensign are still in office, but Edwards had to be tarred and feathered and shipped out of town.

[laughingliberal]

81. Would be nice if we saw some of that loyalty towards those on the left who worked their asses off to

get him elected.

[JDPriestly]

85. True. But we are not in his inner circle.

[jgraz]

88. Which was Obama's choice.

He was the one who excluded all progressive voices from his administration.

[debbierlus]

138. In other words, he is a narcisstic egomaniac who is invested

.........more in his fragile ego, then actually leading the American people.

The people who cried & reached to him all during the campaign for real help.

[kgnu_fan]

31. knr

[ima_sinnic]

33. what other criminals are we paying with our taxes to rob us?

we have been duped, hoodwinked, robbed, lied to, and cheated by this administration.
this was supposed to be a "change" from bush?
may the whole system collapse from its inner rotten core outward--and good fucking riddance.
unfortunately, We The Little Nobody People will be the ones most to suffer while the wink-&-a-nod highway robbers ride off with our money and all our dreams.

what time does the rebellion start?

[flyarm]

34. Geithner/ Kissinger/Obama..this should have tipped off every dem and made them furious..

I have posted this info since early last spring..only to have the cheerleaders shout down this info..and do a disservice to each and every Democrat in this country by trying to hide the truth, and make excuses.

People need to take a good hard look at who Obama has surrounded himself with and make some real informed decisions of who represents your Democratic values and prinicples.
If you are young and a "new " dem and don't know the history of Kissinger..please do some research..I know of no real Dem ( of the Vietnma generation) that can even tolerate hearing the murdering criminals name!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shortly after taking office..Obama asked Henry Kissinger..knick name.."The Butcher of Cambodia"..to represent his administration in Talks with Russia..

lets look as some serious connections here of Geithner , Kissinger and Obama...shall we..( edit to add: much of this i have posted many times in the past.)


TIMOTHY GEITHNER

Biography

Early life and education
Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York.<2> He spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok.<3> He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.<4> He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985.<4><5> He has studied Chinese<4> and Japanese.<6>

Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908.<7> His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York.

During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.<8>

Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

Early career

After completing his studies,

Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988.

He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).<5>

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.<5> Summers was his mentor,<10><11> but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.<11><12><13>



In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.<14> He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003) at the International Monetary Fund.<5>


In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<15> His salary in 2007 was $398,200.<16> Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.<17>


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Timmy's dad :


Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s,

Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by

S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro,

President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once



Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


now this should alarm every true democrat on these boards!!!!!!!


and From an April post of mine here at DU: and please, don't believe me ...click the link..it was in the CFR publication!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009




Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on

February 8, 2009.





"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.




Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar ... ...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Report: AIG bailout money behind banks' recent profitability

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009 /...

snip:
The financial blog Zero Hedge has posted an "exclusive" that claims that according to an insider's account, AIG (yes, that AIG) "was responsible for the banks' January and February profitability."


Saying it is "rarely speechless," ZH offered "a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turns keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good."


ZH says the insider perspective came in an email from "a correlation desk trader." Unless you're a finance whiz (and who is these days?!) you might get lost in the explanation of how AIG supposedly engineered this feat of profitability. But ZH tries to explain the "mumbo jumbo" in "layman's terms":


AIG, knowing it would need to ask for much more capital from the Treasury imminently, decided to throw in the towel, and gifted major bank counter-parties with trades which were egregiously profitable to the banks, and even more egregiously money losing to the U.S. taxpayers, who had to dump more and more cash into AIG, without having the U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner disclose the real extent of this, for lack of a better word, fraudulent scam.


In simple terms think of it as an auto dealer, which knows that U.S. taxpayers will provide for an infinite amount of money to fund its ongoing sales of horrendous vehicles (think Pontiac Azteks): the company decides to sell all the cars currently in contract, to lessors at far below the amortized market value, thereby generating huge profits for these lessors, as these turn around and sell the cars at a major profit, funded exclusively by U.S. taxpayers (readers should feel free to provide more gripping allegories).

[still_one]

38. so what is your point in posting it again? Because only YOU know what a true Democrat is? /nt

[flyarm]

40. because people need to know the truth..

I edited my post to clearify..of the "Vietnam generation"...I should have made that clearer.

[KoKo]

68. flyarm, that's interesting stuff about Ford Foundation

and Obama's mother. I knew about Geithner's connection with Kissinger...and his background but this is new to me...and I thank you for posting. I've always felt that Obama got a lot of special treatment because of his mother's connection with the Ford Foundation. How did he pay off what must have been tremendous college debt for both Columbia and Harvard? He couldn't have done that making salary of a community activist. Then that job he had after Columbia...writing business reports for a company that I couldn't find out much about.. That year seemed out of context with what seemed to be his interests afterwards. I think there was info out there being reported by Chicago newspaper and here and there, but most of us were swept up in the moment and were willing to overlook some interesting connections because of the promise of change after so many years of hell.

[grasswire]

63. quite interesting, thanks

So Geithner is a globalist, and his family in the Kissinger camp. Very telling.

[flyarm]

41. The smoking gun in the AIG – Geithner cover up (in Geithner's own handwriting) In then New York Fed

The smoking gun in the AIG – Geithner cover up (in Geithner's own handwriting) In then New York Fed president Tim Geithner’s own handwriting:

"Note that there should be no discussion or suggestion that AIG and the NY Fed are asking to structure anything else at this point. "

do look at this link!!!!

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/01/the-smoking-gun-in-the-aig-geithner-cover-up.html



thanks to du'er "ozymandius" for this info and article..from this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4214057&mesg_id=4216062

[still_one]

48. Thanks /nt

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[still_one]

46. You are full of it and yourself /nt

[Kansas Wyatt]

51. What promises has he lived up to?

Who has he represented and worked for?

Who has he thrown under the bus?

Who is demanding a Union Busting DLC/HCR SHIT Bill?

Obama, that's who, and he is suppose to be a Democrat, but idealizes Ronald Reagan. Reagan liked busting unions too. No, you are full of it and yourself... Or are you going to go on believing your lying eyes?

[RoyGBiv]

57. About the Reagan thing ...

This is a prime example of some on the left imposing upon Obama specific, explicit ideas he never expressed.

I suppose you're referring to this Obama comment: "I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not."

These are the words of an intellectual commenting on the historical significance of Reagan's presidency vs. that of Bill Clinton. He's not the only one to have done so, nor is he the only liberal to have done so in these terms. The political science academy has, since the days of its happening, looked at the 1980 election as a potential for a long-awaited political realignment. It didn't happen quite that way, but it's still a point of focus, and very few academics could be found who didn't agree strongly with the notion that Reagan, the politician, changed the trajectory of America in a way that Bill Clinton did not.

This says nothing about agreement with the policy changes he made, yet certain members of the liberal blogosphere took this comment and asserted, without providing any other evidence whatsoever, that Obama agrees wholesale with the fundamental basis of Reagan's political ideology.

The disconnect here is absurd. You all said you wanted a smart guy running the country. Well, you have one, and smart people make comments like this. It takes a smart listener to discern the meaning without allowing for the spin of ideologues to shape it for you.

[Kansas Wyatt]

58. So Obama pushes for a Union Busting DLC/HCR SHIT Bill....

Instead of going with the House version to tax the rich, instead of unions. Hell, he may not say he idealizes Reagan, but he sure does push for Reagan policies.

Yet you say he is not like Reagan... Go on then, believe your own lying eyes.

[RoyGBiv]

62. I disagree with your premise ...

And even if I did not, your conclusion does not logically follow from it.

[flyarm]

154. Kansas Wyatt ..you are 100% correct!!! eom

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

152. Obama is NOT a Liberal

He's not the only one to have done so, nor is he the only liberal to have done so in these terms.

[kgnu_fan]

43. Today UBS whistleblower has been sent to prison -the whole system is evil

Read transcript at Democracy Now! site. Your blood will boil...

Why Is the Whistleblower Who Exposed the Massive UBS Tax Evasion Scheme the Only One Heading to Prison?
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/7/why_is_the_whistleblower_who_exposed


Bradley Birkenfeld first came forward to US authorities in 2007 and began providing inside information on how UBS was helping thousands of Americans hide assets in secret Swiss accounts.

[sixmile]

53. From the interview:

' And these were not small frauds. These were major frauds by millionaires and billionaires.

And right now, the American people don’t know who they were. Think of that. Fourteen thousand multimillionaires and, we know, billionaires had illegal accounts for years. They hold positions of authority in the United States. And the Justice Department has essentially given cover to every single one of them. '

Out-effin-rageous!

[KoKo]

76. The Transcript over there at Democracy Now is a good read...Senators & Judges

along with billionaires. I don't think we will see the names of these people published. It's terrible the whistle blower is going to jail and the rest get off free.

[ima_sinnic]

56. I remember that story and had wondered what happened

funny, I just thought of that guy a few days ago, out of the blue.
yes, my blood is boiling. we are simply pawns in some global mafia thing. the haves and have-mores are concentrating all the resources on their side, sucking it directly out of our pockets. We're all serfs now. I only hope I'm still young enough (I'm 63 now) to participate in the rebellion and revolution that must happen.

[sixmile]

60. Make sure you're properly stretched and warmed up

and then we can start, eh?
:)

[ima_sinnic]

61. lol! what time does it start, anyway?

I've been looking forward to it for many years now.

[dgibby]

69. Unfortunately, it won't be televised.n/t

[LeahD]

143. Whistleblower.org

If you go to the Democracy Now article, there is a link for whistleblower.org to send emails to Pres. Obama, your Senators and Representatives requesting further investigation of Birkenfeld's case.

[democracy1st]

50. K & R

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

52. Eliot Spitzer, eh?

:D

[DisgustipatedinCA]

77. Yeah. Eliot Spitzer

He hired hookers. There, it's out in the open now. Did you have anything of relevance to say or are you just practicing acting like a GOP spokesperson?

[whistler162]

94. Yes that was the final straw in a tragically inept series of

screw ups in his career as a Governor!

[liberation]

105. Like?

.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

97. Acting like a GOP spokesperson?

I was thinking the same thing about Spitzer.

[spoony]

54. Cut that anchor loose or sink with him, Pres. nt

[FarCenter]

65. AIG and the US government are closely related through the CIA

AIG's long-time chairman simultaneously served as Director, Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank during the Reagan and Clinton administrations.

AIG also owns the security firm Kroll, which is the "CIA of Wall Street".

Don't pry up too many flat rocks.

Duplicity, deception, espionage, etc. are the basic tools of both statecraft and international finance.

A collapse of AIG would be no ordinary bankruptcy. It would have been a National Security issue.

[Karenina]

90. It's been so amazing to me

watching how that little discussion NEVER COMES UP. Maurice was making noises about starting a rival firm coupla months back, wonder what happened to that? I stuck my head down that AIG rabbit hole for a New York minute. It goes all the way through to China and emitted such a foul odor... :puke:

[Ghost Dog]

111. Ding Ding Ding!

We need to know more.

[RainDog]

66. k&r

[bbgrunt]

71. now we know why the spitz had to be discredited

[laughingliberal]

83. Yep. The more that has leaked out since they took Spitzer out

and we see the institutions he was investigating the more obvious it becomes. Come on, now. He's the only guy in public office who sees sex workers on the side?

[flyarm]

150. absolutely..that is a "bingo"!! eom

[ArcticFox]

82. I played Monopoly the other day on Wii

I found it funny that the computer player would trade Park Place to me when I already had Boardwalk for my mortgaged Kentucky avenue, and even threw in some cash in the deal.

It's not so funny when it happens in real life. We are the computer player. Our algorithms are controlled by the real players:

"The taxpayer's stake in AIG is held by the A.I.G. Credit Facility Trust, whose three trustees are Jill M. Considine, a former chairman of the Depository Trust Company and a former director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Chester B. Feldberg, a former New York Fed official who was chairman of Barclays Americas from 2000 to 2008; and Douglas L. Foshee, chief executive of the El Paso Corporation and chairman of the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas."

The big boys can now trade their shit for AIG's assets free and clear.

Oh, and the computer player lost.

[blueworld]

86. I'd be the last to defend Geithner, but as usual I'm confused

Isn't this old news? Didn't we know months ago that AIG took their bailout money & paid it (in part) to large banks as part of their credit-default swap payouts? And everyone was outraged because the banks themselves also received bailout money?

So what's the outrage now? The fact that Geithner ASKED them not to give out specific details? I agree that should be done, but I'm confused because this seems to be emerging as if it were NEW and in fact, it's been a burr under the saddle all year. I'm assuming that the lack of detail & Timmy's request is the real "news"?

I agree with those who think Geithner should be put out to pasture, by the way, but I've felt that way all along.

[FarCenter]

93. So, who with the power to intitiate a media campaign wants Timmy out?

And why now?

[liberation]

91. Heeeee's baaaaaaaaaack!

LOL this is going to get interesting.

[whistler162]

92. WOW... the idiot just doesn't get it......

SHUT UP SPITZER and go away!

Don't know or care what he says anymore. He mangaled his political career and now wants to become a sage senior statesman/commentator! Yeah right, not gonna' happen.

[TornadoTN]

95. Hahaha shoot the messenger when he's got a point?

Spitzer is an idiot for the stunt he pulled with the escorts, but it doesn't make his input on professional matters any less important.

[whistler162]

96. Sorry but the idiot is a idiot and listening to a idiot like

Spitzer doesn't make a difference!

[TornadoTN]

99. So even if his input is valid, true, and makes sense?

That's some interesting logic.

[liberation]

104. Who needs "logic" when simple ad hominems can do the work. And since they just got their bus lifted

they have even more space to throw more people under it... Yeeeeehhhhhaaaaaaaw!

How dare that idiot Spitzer make an Obama minion look bad! The gall of some people!

[grasswire]

110. this says more about you than about Spitzer

Keep that in mind, sonny.

[Jim Sagle]

133. Fuck off, DLC slime.

[malaise]

103. Adios Timmy n/t

[lark]

109. Wish but don't hold your breath

It could get mighty uncomfortable.

[pjt7]

107. Let's hope this brings down the

FED, they have been butt-jamming americans, without most of us knowing about it, us since 1923.

[fascisthunter]

108. Ok, How Much of This DId Obama Know about?

why do I find it hard to believe he didn't know this shit about Geithner before appointing him?

[flyarm]

149. all of it!! eom

[defendandprotect]

113. Spitzer knows . . . !! Release the emails . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

119. This guy really needs to go.

Really.

[merkins]

122. The Albatross

Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks

Had I from old and young !

Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.

[myrna minx]

125. K&R n.t

[Jefferson23]

126. So release the information, that is what needs to take place.

[w4rma]

130. For God's sakes! FIRE Geithner already!! What an undeniable disaster! (nt)

[applegrove]

134. I hope Elliot Spitzer runs for higher office again some day.

[debbierlus]

136. Obama better get his house in order

Quickly...

He is going to be swept under the avalanche of this scandal. And, he and the democrats will OWN the financial disasters of the past 30 years.

If he doesn't wake up to this (an issue that threatens HIS Presidency), he will never ever wake up and he is totally in the pockets of the corporations.

[MissDeeds]

137. K&R

Jeez, the hits just keep on coming.

[scentopine]

140. Wall Street and Torture: the mockery of American justice. -nt

[Oilwellian]

141. The Fed & Treasury...co-conspirators

in the largest Ponzi scheme ever. My question is, who told Geitner to conspire to defraud the American taxpayer?
Who pulled his strings? That would be a curtain I'd love to see behind.

[Sancho]

148. Enron all over again; take the money and run!

Geithner is going to get caught on this one. The GOP will have a field day. Obama needs to can him today, but he hasn't fired anyone yet.