Closing Arguments: Geithner’s Future

Geithner must step down. He either knew about the bonuses and did nothing to stop them, in which case he is ineffective and part of the problem. Or he truly knew nothing about them, in which case he is an ineffective and uniformed regulator, and completely incompetent. His choice – but either way he’s gone.
Parting irony — the “fix” to Geithner’s AIG bonus scandal may be to “tax the bastards” to get it all back. Funny, Geithner is something of an expert in not paying taxes.

Timothy Geithner is billion times better than war mongers Republicans. We stand by Geithner as along as there is a corrective action from AIG. Financial situation like getting bonus getting back can be corrected, but, nobody can correct the sacrifices and money lost in war.

Geithner should not step down. This whole AIG charade has been blown out of all proportion and to blame him is scapegoating. I don’t know whether I like him or not, I don’t know whether he is competent or not, but I do know one thing: The Republicans are trying to stage another witch hunt. That’s what I think and how I see it.

Mr.Geithner should either step down or be fired.He was part of the first TARP which failed,and knew about the AIG bonuses all along.He is part of the problem!

Were any of the Presidents or Politicians who promoted slavery asked to step down? There’s too much finger pointing at this brilliant President and his decisions just because he’s Black. He runs circles around the warped minds who thought it was ok to enslave a human being and call them three fifths of a person. For those of you who can’t get over it, maybe the conservative talk show hosts could use you in their cabinet.

I’ve got an idea: President Obama said that AIG and the bankers are like suicide bombers. If that’s true, let ‘em keep their bonuses and send them all to Afghanistan.
To LisaB: The one thing that we should insist the President put on his plate is the truth! Face it: he out and out lied to us when he feigned outrage over the bonuses that he had no idea about when he pressured Sen. Dodd to ensure the Stimulus Bill was amended to protect the AIG bonuses. That’s Change I just don’t believe in!

If Geithner knew about the bonuses, it’s a no-brainer. Besides, didn’t the outcome of his first news conference, outlining his economic stimulas plan, result in a
down investing day at Wall Street because he was vague. Seems like this should not be an on-the-job training position.

I know american people is mad at american international group or AIG but why does Timothy Geithner has to take the blame on the third month of the admintration. give him a brake. he onily been in the admontration for not that long. at lease the obama admintraion takeing action. that something you dont see the bush admintration doing. yes that was a mistake for him. but he is learning. and obama is backing him.

What if AIG,had filed for bankruptcy?. How would they have been paid?, or could’nt they have waited until the company start making profit before they start paying those bonuses with tax payers money?. Therefore, if Tim GEITHNER HAS PRIOR KNOWLEDGE before the “pay OUT”, I think he should step down.

I don’t have confidence in Timothy Geithner but the real responsibility here is with President Obama. Presidents almost always stand by their staff even though they sometimes later have them take the fall. I cannot find the performance in this latest incident acceptable. There was lots of negative press about golden parachutes and the like in recent months. In this go around with AIG I don’t believe the contract to pay “retention(?)” bonuses was a secret. Geitner either knew about it or should have known about it. People in the Senate had taken measure to premptively prevent such payments within AIG. They obviously knew of the situation. Unfortuantely powers in conference committee chose to strip those preemptive measures. That was either naive rotten judgement or, worse yet, another case of bipartisan bickering where a majority party refuses to give any credit to wisdom in a minority party. I think it was most likely the latter and both parties have been guilty of this awful behavior in recent decades. Many say give the guy a chance. But our econmic situation is just too serious a matter to entrusst it to a novice of questionable integrity. If the apparant bad choice for secratary proves to indeed be a bad choice, I hope our President will not make a further mistake by sticking with him too long. It is better to admit the mistake and move on than to continue in the folly.

He’s been an embarrassment from the beginning. His departure is long overdo.

By merely putting Tim Geitner in this cabinet post, Obama has told the good ol’ boy network of Corporate fatcats and Wall Street theives “Hey guys, Its business as usual.” these bonuses were no epiphany, they were common knowledge for a long time, on paper, in contract form! Are Obama’s “Intel” sources really this bad or have Obama and his “Chicago-Clinton” cabinet of idiots been deluding each other?
either way the “I plead ignorance” defense won’t WASH. Sorry Tim you gotta go!!! Your past track record with other administrations speaks volumes.You have done a great job of cancelling your own FUTURE…

he is tainted..he will never live down the fact that he himself avoided paying taxes…intentionally or unintentionally…his job is that he should have dug into this bonus issue…It’s called due diligence…sorry liberals that’s the fact……

Mr. Geithner should resign.

Each of us deserves a chance to improve on the job. Can you imagine how you’d feel if you were held accountable for this big of a mess after less than 2 months on a new job? Heck, you’ve barely figured out where the pens and staples are. Wouldn’t you feel like the fall guy?
AIG execs got paid millions in bonuses *after* doing a horrendous job.
Geithner deserves the opportunity to show us what he’s really made of — under normal pressure conditions. I’d like to see what he can accomplish with a full staff and some sleep!
Posted by: Diane G | Mar
Diane , it seems as if he has been asleep. That is the problem! He has had plenty of company in dreamland though.

Leave Geithner alone for a while. Lots of people knew about these bonuses apparently including Bernanke. Geithner is not the best communicator but he’s trying — still finding his way around. Does anyone remember what it’s like to walk into a new job? We’re all mad as hell and we focus on AIG because at least we understand that bit. The Republicans are trying to pin all this on Geithner. They have amnesia for anything before January 20th! All this goes back to how Paulsen structured everything, all by himself, without any oversight or supervision, changing from day to day. But no, they don’t talk about Paulsen or Bush! They’re trying to re-write what happened and letting Geithner who just came on the scene take the fall. Where were all those Republicans when they were running up the deficit, getting rid of any kind of regulation and marching off to wars?

Let the guy fix it. People need to start taking into consideration the situational factors and look outside the box. This is what we call the “Fundamental Attribution Theory”…
Americans always underestimate situational influences and overestimate the dispositional ones.

Geithner is either a tax dodger/evader or totally irresposible. Both are bad so GET RID OF HIM!!!! If President Obama wants to redeem himself, he needs to fire Geithner besides he was part of the team who originally worked out the TARP $$ deal with Paulson on Bush’s watch. Paulson and Geithner are the same. Oh yeah get rid or the liars in congress like Barney Franks and Chris Dodd FIRE them Too!!! Remember Franks is the one who said that Fannie and Freddie were just peachy. We bailed them out!!! re: AIG Oh yeah don’t forget President Obama and Sen. Dodd were the two largest recipients of campaign contributions from the beleaguered company, and the only politicians to garner six-figure amounts from AIG in 2008 — $103,100 for Sen. Dodd and $100,332 for presidential candidate Obama. So much for TRANSPARENCY and no earmarks sounds like the Obama is just the SAME as the rest a Politician who will say anything to get elected and to payback his favors instead of looking out for us (the average American)

Geithner wrote the bailout clause that included those bonus payouts.
Geithner should be held responsible for his actions.

It´s time for the buck to stop here, Geithner is a mental set from the past, an A.I.G. type himself. The time for correction is now, Obama should kindly drop him, and demonstrate that what he promised he means to practice. Not only the A.I.G. is guilty of treasonous bonuses, also my own bank in Philadelphia, PNC Mr. Rohr and company they got 3 million each-J. Wolf

No he should not step down. The GOP needs to curb the rhetoric (because that is all it is) as they bear some of the responsibility for this meltdown. Perhaps they think that pointing fingers and complaining about Geithner will distract everyone from their responsibility for the financial mess this country is in after eight years of Republican mismanagement of our government. Geithner should be left alone to do the job he was hired to do. Neither he nor anyone else can solve these problems instantly. Give the man a chance.

Geithner should not step down….the senators who opposed government involvement in regulating the salaries and bonuses, should step down. These Senators stated the Obama’s administration was “socializing” big businesses, and he was dictatorial in suggesting this. Now the Big Mouth NO Guys are screaming about The Bonuses. These people are trying as hard as possible to drive our economy and country in an abys. The American people are going to stand by this Administration because we can “see” and has been “seeing” for years just what these NO MEN is doing and has done. The Big Financial institution that was in the pockets of the Bush Administration is doing exactly what it’s been doing without regulations. They should be prosecuted, with full court pressing. This isn’t new….the NO Men are pushing to regulate the Auto workers pensions, insurance, bonuses, But they don’t want these institutions regulated. GO FIGURE.

Mr. Geithner deserves more than a little more time to do his job. He is working hard as he can, at fixing the mess left by the last eight years. Time for the loud mouthed Republicans to look in a mirror, and ask that person in the mirror…who created this fiasco. This started on their watch, while they were playing “yes” men to GWB! Barbara

I abhor this situation like the rest who have posted here, BUT the treatment Mr. Liddy received from legislators yesterday was uncalled for. Total grandstanding for the folks back home in the face of a decent man. Liddy, too,has just stepped into the quagmire and was not CEO when the bonus contracts were written.
Do I understand it correctly that the AIG office involved is in Connecticut and that state has a law giving employees the right to sue for double the amount of the bonus if not given as contracted? Perhaps there is more information Geithner et al were working with that we out here in Smartville don’t know. Give everyone a chance.

Geithner has nothing to worry about. He’s not leaving. Think about it. Whose going to make him leave? The Republicans? HaHaHa! Only Obama can make him leave and he is not going to. End of story.

He stays. He hasn’t done anything sigficantly wrong IMO, and he has an enormous amount on his plate. I think has is doing very well under the circumstances. Only recently have his deputies been nominated. And, he is dealing with the worst set of financial crises since the Great Depression. Give the guy a break.