Sunday, July 26, 2009

Geithner and the Scapegoat Sweepstakes

Thanks to Smitty for watchdogging the latest headlines about SIGTARP Neil Barofsky while I was on the road to Richmond yesterday. It's important to see the big picture in this battle between Barofsky and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner:
The Wall Street bailout has been unpopular from its inception. . . . Now, we see unemployment soaring (more than 15% in Michigan, near 12% in California) and consumer confidence falling, while the stock market surges upward. You can't blame people for suspecting that massive taxpayer-funded assistance to financial giants like AIG, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America might have something to do with this widening chasm between prosperity on Wall Street and misery on Main Street. . . .
Polls indicate a growing perception that the Obama administration is mismanaging the economy, with special favors for politically connected Wall Street fat cats at the expense of ordinary American taxpayers. . . .
With another approaching crisis in banking and forecasts that unemployment will continue rising for months to come, Obama will eventually start looking for a scapegoat. Though once hailed as an economic savior, the nominee who was "too big to fail," Geithner is now odds-on favorite to win the Scapegoat Sweepstakes. SIGTARP Barofsky's watchdogging of the bailout "black hole" may be enough to push Geithner across the finish line.
Read the whole thing, which includes a "document dump" with Barofsky's quarterly IG report and other important documents on this important aspect of IG-Gate.

1 comment:

  1. O! my prophetic soul! The Ballad of Timothy Geithner (apologies to The Moody Blues)

    Timothy Geithner’s crap.
    No, no, no, no, he’s gotten a bad rap.
    Timothy Geithner’s bland.
    No, no, no, no, he’s been dealt a bad hand.
    He’ll pay what he owes back,
    Had a glitch with Turbotax,
    Do the same and you’ll get whacked,
    Timothy Geithner, Timothy Geithner.

    Timothy Geithner’s dumb.
    No, no, no, no, just go ask David Frum.
    Timothy Geithner’s cooked.
    No, no, no, no, just go read David Brooks.
    He’ll bail out AIG,
    With his stimulus fantasy,
    Tax some back, naturally
    Timothy Geithner, Timothy Geithner.

    Now listen close, Obama boasts
    About a light he says that shines so clear.
    So raise your glass, we’ll drink a toast
    To the little man who makes your retirement queer.

    The market’s up, he’ll bring it down,
    Drive your 401k into the ground.
    He flies so high, they stoop so low,
    Nukes the market until it glows.
    Timothy Geithner. Timothy Geithner.

    He’ll fuck you up, he’ll bring you down,
    He’ll plant your savings in the ground.
    He’ll fly so high, he’ll stoop so low.
    Timothy Geither.

    He’ll scrunch up his mobile eyebrows.
    Steal your lunch with other highbrows.
    Just on whom is the joke now?
    Timothy Geithner. Timothy Geither.

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