Roundtable: Geithner Isn’t Going Anywhere

Your commentators seem to forget that it’s not just about jobs or saving the financial system. It’s about the ethics and moral leadership we expect of our leaders. It’s also about holding accountable those who were involved in creating this crisis in the first place. There are all reasons why Geithner (and others) needs to go. Arguing that the ends justify the means is a slippery slope for other abuses of power. Time and time again the politicians and pundits insult the American public with such faulty arguments in pursuit of their personal agenda. It’s this insult that will continue to fuel “populist” anger (even such label seem to as if the American public is somehow irrational).

Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer suggests that Wall Street bonuses will be a flashpoint of the 2010 election (particularly for Independents).
In January record Wall Street bonuses will be announced. When that happens there will be so much populist outrage that Geither will become the scapegoat.
To Walter Isaacson, what Geithner and Bernanke did was not the *only* way. Rather than the banks “earning” their way out of trouble with zero interest rates and the carry trade, the Federal Government could have put them into receivership (wiping the common and subordinated debt) and recapitalized them directly. Even worse, just think how much those Goldman Sachs warrants would be worth *NOW*, which could have been contributed to the Medicare & Social Security Trust Funds. Instead there was a *rush* by Geithner to sell them. Why? ABC News should investigate how much those warrants would have been worth if the Federal Government still owned them.
As Andrew Ross Sorkin observed, yes Geithner may have saved “the World,” but it was the World as he saw it through his eyes. He may have succeeded in preserved the Old Order, but expect the torches and pitchforks to come out in January when the Wall Street bonuses are announced.

This is obama’s choice and let him rise or fall with him. Mr. Geitner is a tax evading corrupt man that falls right in line with obama’s view with his hope and change for this country.

I don’t appreciate the way you totally changed the format, panel and topic of discussion, and just moved on to another area. I am a senior and was really interested in the stimulus program. You had no indication that you were finished with this topic; you just cleared the staged and moved on. It would have been more appropriate to bring some closure, some answers, or questions, and informed us that you were moving on to a new subject.

Geithner won’t go. Wise up he is Obama’s main man that funnels money to Obama’s cronies special interest groups.There are billions of dollars that are missing and no one knows where the money went and the public doesn’t care about it.Obama can get away with what ever he wants. Where are the Jobs? Obama says he is working on it and the news media accepts that answer. End of story.

Geithner was at the NY Fed during the housing bubble ballooning. He was part of the FOMC meetings, and voted for the artificially low interest rates. He is part of the problem. Ron Paul is part of the solution.

You people seem to have forgotten that it took the gop 8 years to screw things up this bad. Now you want an instant fix???????????????????

Of course Geithner isn’t going anywhere. He is part of Wall Street, and as Gerald Celente and others have documented Wall Street has the corrupt Senate and Congress in their pockets. WALL STREET RUNS THE U.S.not the citiznery. That is why they get away with the criminality they do and the whole world knows it, except so many dumbed down Americans, that have watched Wall Street sell of their factories, businesses, and future. True or not??

Since when does the ruling class eat itself? It is only YOU that is on the menu. And that will never “change.”

Wow, the cynical comments above suggest that President Obama’s Administration has FAILED!
Not so much in substance but in style. Not so much in prose but in poetry (quoting Tom Friedman’s 10/30/09 NYT column).
I am likely to be wrong but my guess is that like Luke Skywalker who was torn between the Force and the Power of the Dark Side, Obama is torn between the idealism of Valarie Jarrett and the political ruthlessness of former millionaire investment banker Rahm Emanuel.
PBS talk show host Travis Smiley recently wrote “Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise.” One point that he makes is the GREAT PRESIDENTS have to be pushed. Bottom line is that President Obama has *FAILED* in his campaign promise to CHANGE THE WAY WASHINGTON WORKS (which is why *All” the Independents and college kids voted for him–or put another way why he has no coattails and are abandoning him [duh!]).
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For George S., even though healthcare passes, the poisonous partisan environment that it will create is proof that Obama has *utterly* failed in his campaign promise to CHANGE WASHINGTON to become POST-PARTISAN (again, given that naive kumbaya bipartisanship failed, has Obama succumbed to the Dark Side [i.e., raw power] where all that counts is winning?).
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For the sake of America’s future, President Obama to become a GREAT president, he has to get rid of Wall Streeters Rahm Emanuel and Timothy Geithner and start governing with style and prose. Valerie Jareett and David Axelrod, are you listening?

Geithner is not going anywhere yet. But, usually Treasury Secretaries don’t last the entire 4-year term, usually 2 to 3 years. He’ll ride it out until the November 2010 mid-terms and then he’ll step aside. I thought it was a mistake for him to take the job in the first place. He was effective and comfortable in the NY Fed, and, yes, he and Bernanke did avert a complete financial system collapse. Geithner’s problems really stem from lack of technical expertise. He doesn’t have a strong enough economic background to reach into the tool box and come up with creative ideas. Bernanke, Summers, Yellen, etc. are stronger technically from an academic point of view. Geithner simply wasn’t ready for the job, and the political environment isn’t stable enough for him to grow in the position. He took it because he believes in public service and was ambitious, but Geithner belongs on Wall Street, where he feels more comfortable, and he needs to be 2nd in command, not 1st. I like Geithner, and I think he’s effective, but not in this job. Treasury, in this environment, needs someone with more gravitas, more technical expertise, and with thicker skin.

He should be in jail for tax evasion.
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I agree with it. Tim should be in jail now not in the White House for tax evasion, hiring of illegal nanny, and creating of a huge loophole, which was able to have big bonus parties with bailout money in Wall St.
IN ADDITION TO, Tim Geithner AND OBAMA HAVE TOTALLY FAILED TO CREATE JOBS OF 3,500,000. THE THING AMERICAN DON’T UNDERSTAND IS THIS WHAT OBAMA HAS STILL DEFENDED THE TAXES CHEATER.