Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is not a very bright man. He doesn’t seem to understand he was in someone else’s house and they’re not going to tolerate his mouthing off. Must say he has grown a spine since his confirmation hearings.
Joint Economic Committee of Congress
Rep Peter DeFazio (D-OR) thinks Geithner should step down, citing his poor handling of the AIG bailout.
Rep MICHAEL C BURGESS (R-TX):
I don’t think that you should be fired. I thought you should have never been hired.
Rep KEVIN BRADY (R-TX)
Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed. Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows Americans have lost confidence in this president’s ability to handle the economy. For the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?
GEITHNER:
I think almost nothing you said represents a fair and accurate perception of where this economy is today. If any measure of confidence in the financial system, it is substantially stronger today than when the president took office. We would have had a stronger fiscal position if we hadn’t had eight years of paying for our commitments — not borrowing against them.
Why is it barry people always say ‘it’s not our fault’? Democrats have been in control since 2006 but it’s all Bush’s fault. After 10 months, yes it is their fault and the polls back that up.
Rep BRADY:
At some point you have to take responsibility for your decisions.
GEITHNER:
I take responsibility for anything I am part of doing. What I can’t take responsibility for is the legacy of crisis–
Rep BRADY:
This is your budget, this is your bailout, this is your stimulus, this is your–
GEITHNER:
I take full responsibility for those with great honor--
Why does Geithner pretend he had no idea what was going on until he became Treasury Secretary? He was part of the problem as president of the NY Federal Reserve Bank. And he knew all about the bonuses.
WH statement in defense of Geithner:
Secretary Geithner has helped steer the American economy back from the brink, and is now leading the effort on financial reform. His focus today – and ours – is economic recovery and addressing the challenges the American people face everyday.
Chris Matthews had Rick Santelli on (2-20) to discuss the rant. Santelli said it was more philosophical: a card laid is a card played. The government shouldn’t get in the middle of a contract. He also slips in the word “redistribute” and matthews doesn’t even notice.
barama: Who did you vote for?
Santelli: Mr McCain.
barama: I wanted to know where you were coming from politically because you’re coming down on Barack.
It’s always the same. Someone speaks out about something barry does and it’s a personal attack on barry, which sets off his botlets who then attack the one who dared say something. It’s so predictable it’s funny…unless you’re the heretic.
barama calls him “Ebeneezer Scrooge Rick Santelli”.
Santelli has a solution. Take all the money and divide it up equally among the people with mortgages - behind or not.
barama says it’s crazy then he says to Santelli that his name is personally iconized because the president has sent his spokesman after him.
barama: You’re up there with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. It’s quite a team. You’re probably the smartest in that group. I’ll tell ya.
obamasecrets
Robert Gibbs, WH Press Secretary goes after Santelli in his charateristc middle school sarcastic manner. How long before this guy learns decorum? See separate post for the transcript of Gibbs’ comments.
Mr Jack Livitsky - here you go. I had to dig deep into the archive drafts to find everything. The Tax Day Tea Party movement sprang out of Rick Santelli’s spontaneous (yes) rant from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on CNBC’s Squawk Box. It’s hysterical and got a lot of play. And like everything else - media attention => grassroots action - in this case for good reason. According to a Rasmussen Poll 55% of the American People at that time thought barry’s plan was rewarding bad behavior.
barrymedia of course morphed it into a personal attack on barry and went after Santelli, which of course stoked Santelli and generic anti-barry fans. Chris Matthews had Santelli on and had to ask him who he voted for and then compared him to Limbaugh and Hannity. Robert Gibbs the White House Spokesman was disrespectful and sarcastic in defense of barry. I’m not sure when they are going to realize that frat boy campaign press handling shows just how inexperienced and arrogant barry and his people are. And the WH press corp is showing how unprofessional they are by allowing it to go on.
The Chicago Tea Party organizers “Don’t Go” said they received a request from RNC Chairman Michael Steele to speak but Eric Odom of Don’t Go said it was a gathering for We The People to speak and that he was welcome to attend and listen. Steele said he never asked to speak and Don’t Go answered back.
The Tea Party encouraged folks to send tea bags to DC, which caused a ruckus in the senate post office because of the loose leafy contents. They wondered why barry’s weed dealers weren’t able to deliver it in person! Although the tea parties are not directly related to barry’s eligibility issue - the tea bags were sweet revenge for the Anthrax quarantine.
Some of those I’ve already posted on - see links below. The rest I’ll post now. Hopefully it answers all your questions. If not, let me know. You can write a comment on any of the posts rather than email, if you like.
On February 19th, Rick Santelli ranted from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on CNBC's Squawk Box in response to barry’s mortgage bailout plans. Here is the transcript and video. Afterward, barrymedia said it was preplanned because of the immediate response by grassrooters. You decide.
It seems the barrymedia were a little upset that the internet it seems works for nonbarryites and dissension regarding anything barry does is met with stiff opposition and public ridicule. Thing is the majority of Americans agreed with him. According to a Rasmussen Poll taken that week - 55% of the American people felt that the plan was rewarding bad behavior. It wasn't so much planned as it was perfectly in tune with the public's outrage, who also know how to use the internet.
TRANSCRIPT: courtesy of America’s Independence Day Tea Party which “was founded in 2008 by two individuals with no connection or affiliation with any political party, candidate, or candidates committee.”
nq792000
RICK SANTELLI: The government is promoting bad behavior. Because we certainly don’t want to put stimulus forth and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check, and think that they ought to save it, and in terms of modifications… I’ll tell you what, I have an idea.
You know, the new administration’s big on computers and technology– How about this, President and new administration? Why don’t you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages; or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water?
TRADER ON FLOOR: That’s a novel idea.
(Applause, cheering)
JOE KERNEN: Hey, Rick… Oh, boy. They’re like putty in your hands. Did you hear…?
SANTELLI: No they’re not, Joe. They’re not like putty in our hands. This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills? Raise their hand.
(Booing)
President Obama, are you listening?
TRADER: How ’bout we all stop paying our mortgage? It’s a moral hazard.
SANTELLI: Don’t get scared, Joe. They’re already scaring you. You know, Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now, they’re driving ‘54 Chevys, maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit.
KERNEN: They’re driving them on water, too, which is a little strange to watch.
SANTELLI: There you go.
KERNEN: Hey Rick, how about the notion that, Wilbur pointed out, you can go down to 2% on the mortgage…
SANTELLI: You could go down to -2%. They can’t afford the house.
KERNEN: …and still have 40%, and still have 40% not be able to do it. So why are they in the house? Why are we trying to keep them in the house?
SANTELLI: I know Mr. Summers is a great economist, but boy, I’d love the answer to that one.
REBECCA QUICK: Wow. Wilbur, you get people fired up.
SANTELLI: We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing.
(Whistling, cheering)
QUICK: What are you dumping in, what are you dumping in this time? Housing…?
SANTELLI: We’re going to be dumping in some derivative securities. What do you think about that?
QUINTANILLA: Mayor Daley is marshaling the police right now.
KERNEN: Rabble-rouser.
QUINTANILLA: The National Guard.
After Jason Roney of Sharmac Capital makes some comments, it’s back to Santelli.
QUINTANILLA: You know, Rick, one of our producers says if Roland Burris steps down, man, “Senator Santelli,” the junior senator from Illinois. It’s a possibility. I’m just saying…
SANTELLI: Do you think I want to take a shower every hour? The last place I’m ever gonna live or work is D.C.
KERNEN: Have you raised any money for Blago?
SANTELLI: No, but I think that somebody’s gonna have to start raising money for us.
QUICK: Hey, Rick? Can you do that one more time, just get the mob behind you again?
QUINATILLA: Have the camera pull way out.
QUICK: Yeah, pull way out. Everybody listen to Rick Santelli.
KERNEN: He can’t… I don’t think… You can’t just do it at will, can you Rick? I mean, you have to say something.
QUICK: No, do it at will. Let’s see.
SANTELLI: Listen, all’s I know is, is that there’s only about 5% of the floor population here right now, and I talk loud enough they can all hear me. So if you want to ask ‘em anything, let me know. These guys are pretty straight forward, and my guess is, a pretty good statistical cross-section of America, the silent majority.
QUICK: Not so silent majority today. So Rick, are they opposed to the housing thing, to the stimulus package, to everything out there?
SANTELLI: You know, they’re pretty much of the notion that you can’t buy your way into prosperity, and if the multiplier that all of these Washington economists are selling us is over… that we never have to worry about the economy again. The government should spend a trillion dollars an hour because we’ll get 1.5 trillion back.
WILBUR ROSS: Rick, I congratulate you on your new incarnation as a revolutionary leader.
SANTELLI: Somebody needs one. I’ll tell you what, if you read our founding fathers, people like Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson,… What we’re doing in this country now is making them roll over in their graves.
Found this interesting. NY States Attorney Andrew Cuomo set this letter to AIG on October 18, 2009. What are the chances the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank - Tim Geithner - didn’t know about it? What are the chances he didn’t get a copy from somewhere? It’s from the New York States Attorney. Why isn’t the press looking for internal memos?
And what are the chances that at least one of barry’s 2500 campaign operatives saw it? Congress had hearings.
Why isn’t the press going after him about this? Imagine if this were Hillary Clinton or John McCain or George Bush? And none of them every claims transparency! and change! and no old Washington! which is exactly what Chris Dodd and Geithner and barry did. And exactly what the press is doing.
Any wonder that one of the last polls showed htat only 7% of Americans believed barry had knowledge of the bonuses. Not only did the proobamedia get him elected they are continuing to underreport, misreport or flat out ignore the facts.
Where is the outrage against the press for not identifying the bonuses before they were handed out?
Mario Cuomo, NY Attorney General, says some of the AIG bonus recipients are willing to return the money. He sure sounds like his son.
CUOMO (phone call): So far 9 of the top 10 recipients have agreed to give the bonuses back. Of the top 20 recipients, 15 have agreed to return the bonuses. Those bonuses will be returned in full...I would like to say to the individuals who have given the money back, you have done the "right thing." You've done what this country now needs and demands...It might be possible to recoup at the end of the process, approximately $80M, which is approximately half the amount received by Americans...
If a person returns the money, I don't believe there's a public interest in releasing their names.
Well that's a subtle brand of blackmail: return the money and nobody knows you were a greedy, selfish pig. Don't, and the nation will know exactly who you are. Bravo, Mr Cuomo.
FYI:What are the chances the top recipient is the one refusing to return the money?
Top recipient received more than $6.4 million
Top seven bonus recipients each received more than $4 million
Top 10 bonus recipients received a combined $42 million
22 individuals received bonuses of $2 million or more, and combined, they received more than $72 million
73 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more
11 individuals who received $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received $4.6 million
Recall that these bonuses were pawned off as "retention bonuses" and yet 11 don't even work there anymore. How many of them are returning the money? Those names should be top of the list, whether they returned the money or not.
IMG is asking 1200 of its employess to return bonuses. How much of the bailout money went to bonuses? And how much did Geithner, hence barry, know about it beforehand?
Every single person who received a bonus derived from the bailout should have their name listed somewhere and then every single one of them should have a simple background check to see if they have paid their taxes prior to receiving it. If not - the money should be have to be immediately surrendered + fines.
