Tim Geithner: “Economy has stabilized”

May 18, 2009

Tim Geithner’s take on the economy at present. He has a very strange way of speaking. No punctuation. Like’s memorized bullet points that he tries to fit into the questions and as he isn’t challenged on any of them keeps adding more.

Does he inspire confidence? What would happen if someone challenged him on of his bullet points? Do you think he could defend it?

NEWSWEEK’s JON MEACHAM: Do you think the economy has bottomed out?

US TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER: The economy has clearly stabilized.

• The pace of decline in most measures of economic activity has slowed quite a lot and that’s an important beginning.
• Some improvement in credit markets
• Some markets are thawing
• Easier to issue
• Easier to borrow
• Cost of credit coming down
• Important beginnings
• Most challenging economic crisis that this country’s seen in generations
• Took a long time to build up – take time to work through
• Even as growth turns positive – which will happen – unemployment is going to keep increasing for awhile
• It’s not going to feel better for a long time for millions of Americans.
• Need a fresh look at entire financial system
• It failed to do some critically important things
• Too fragile
• Too unstable
• Didn’t do a good enough job protecting consumers and investors
• Incredibly archaic segmented complex oversight regime system
• Did not prevent huge amounts of risks of building up in pockets of the system that caused a lot of damage.

He was head of the NY Fed when he was not paying his own taxes and Madoff was making off with gazillions.

Want to bring down the national debt?

Audit every politician in Washington.

Hardball: timeline of AIG bonuses

I don’t know what happened to this post so I’m reposting it. It goes along with the AIG timeline (9/08 - 3/09) and Tim Geithner’s (3/10-15) - see below. For AIG before Sept 2008 see Paul Kiel at Pro Publica. He goes into the financial details.

March 20, 2009

Time line of bonuses per Hardball.

Sept 08: AIG revealed bonus plan in regulatory filings.

Sept 16: Fed saves AIG by pledging $85 billion

Oct 8: Fed pledges another $37.8 billion

Nov 08: US Treasury and Federal Reserve negotiated AIG’s retention payments and pledge a total of $150 billion

Present Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner was President of the NY Federal Reserve at the time. The fact that he denied knowing about them says he’s either a liar or totally inept. Time will tell if he’s both.

Dec 08: Reps. Kanjorski & Cummings complained about bonuses.

Congress knew.

Feb 09: Federal Reserve told Treasury about bonuses — Geithner opposed tax on bonuses,

Geithner knew.

March 10: Geithner learned “the full scale” of bonuses.

He got caught.

March 12: Geithner told barry advisor Axelrod. He said choosing to go ahead with the bonuses – 70 people received $1 million each or more — was “secondarily a legal consideration and primarily a risk consideration.”

***

AIG Timeline
Hardball: timeline of bonuses
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
barry on AIG (video)
AIG: Edward Liddy (video)
Tim Geithner on Charlie Rose (video)
Andrew Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned
Andrew Cuomo’s letter to AIG (10-28-08)
Chris Dodd: 33% approval rating

Chris Dodd: 33% approval rating

April 8, 2009

Sen Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee was talking to Ed Schultz on MSNBC and they got around to the poll results.

Quinnipiac University Poll
March 26- 31
MOE +/- 2.9

Who do voters blame for AIG bonuses?
1-Bush
2-Dodd

Chris Dodd among CT voters:
Disapprove 58%
Approve 33%

Listen to how he asks the question. He goes out of his way not to use the word “lie”.

ED SCHULTZ: How much do you think that hurt you - reversal of your position, and also the way you changed, you know, your position on the bonuses as to who was responsible for how the bonuses were dished out?

DODD: It hurt terribly. I acknowledge that.

In February, I wrote up an 8 page amendment to deal with bonuses, golden parachutes and luxury items, and the like, to try and deal with these issues across the board - not one fact situations one after another.

And that was the right thing to do, and I still stand by it.

He should have stuck completely to it.

DODD: In February, if I had known then what I now know — no one brought up or had any idea that there were bonuses for AIG involved all of this - then we obviously would have taken a different position.

He’s chairman of the committee — who is he expecting to “bring things up”? And how is saying no one had any idea an excuse? Why didn’t “we” have an idea? That’s what created the problem. And how much doesn’t he still not know?

DODD: But, the administration came to me, along with some others, and said ‘Look this is going to create some real legal problems’. It made some sense, I thought, at the time. I now know that it was a mistake. I’d like to have that moment back.

Totally lame. Imagine what would have happened if they tried to sue - especially the 11 that weren’t even working for AIG when they got their “retention” bonuses.

ED: You were afraid of the legal aspect of all of this?

DODD: That’s what-those were the arguments raised to me. And as I said nobody brought up AIG at the time. And had they done so, and I had known we’d be confronting the problem here, I would have had a very different position.

Notice the two qualifiers…if somebody told him and if he had known he’d get caught - which goes along with word regret no I’m sorry.

DODD: I regret that deeply. It caused an awful lot of frustration and an awful lot of anger at me in my state. I understand it. I acknowledge it. And I’m gonna try to fix it.

There is no personal responsibility admitted to here and he came off like he always does - angry.

***

AIG Timeline
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
barry on AIG (video)
AIG: Edward Liddy (video)
Tim Geithner on Charlie Rose (video)
Andrew Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned
Andrew Cuomo’s letter to AIG (10-28-08)
Chris Dodd: 33% approval rating

Poll: Tim Geithner

March 31, 2009

Diageo/Hotline Poll conducted by FD

N=800 registered voters nationwide
MoE ± 3.5 (for all registered voters)

March 26-29, 2009

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner

Favorable 37
Unfavorable 30
Heard of/Can't rate 19
Haven't heard of 11
Unsure 2

And, when thinking about how President Obama and his team of economic advisors are handling the economy, how confident are you that they will be successful in turning around the economy:

Very 20
Somewhat 41
Not too 18
Not at all 18
Unsure 2

And, when thinking about how Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is handling the economy, how confident are you that he will be successful in turning around the economy: very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident, or not at all confident?

Very 11
Somewhat 40
Not too 19
Not at all 20
Unsure 11

Andrew Cuomo letter to AIG

March 30, 2009

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?

Click TOP RIGHT for full screen.

View this document on Scribd

***

***
AIG Timeline
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
barry on AIG (video)
AIG: Edward Liddy (video)
Tim Geithner on Charlie Rose (video)
Andrew Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned

Tim Geithner’s AIG timeline

March 30, 2009

Timeline provided by the White House via LYNN SWEET:

TUESDAY (3-10)

Secretary Geithner finds out about impending bonuses

Even though he was president of NY Federal Reserve Bank prior to becoming Treasury Secretary. If I had the time and inclination I would go back and find some of his quotes from September and October. Same with barry and Biden.

WEDNESDAY (3-11)

After 6pm, Geithner calls Liddy to express outrage and says payments are unacceptable and Liddy need to go back and renegotiate.

Secretary Geithner and Treasury lawyers look for legal solutions to not paying the bonuses.

Liddy said the company had entered into the bonus agreements in early 2008 before AIG got into severe financial straits and was forced to obtain a government bailout. Who can possibly believe this? They claim the bonuses were “retention” incentives to keep the “best people: working for them and yet 11 of the people who got the bonuses have already left AIG - including to the top bonus getter $4.6M.

THURSDAY (3-12)

Secretary Geithner informs the White House. Later in the day, senior aides inform the President.

Secretary Geithner and Treasury lawyers continue looking for legal solutions to not paying the bonuses.

FRIDAY (3-13)

Secretary Geithner and Treasury lawyers continue looking for legal solutions to not paying the bonuses until the last possible legal moment.

Secretary Geithner speaks with Liddy again and after some back and forth, AIG agrees to:

• Cut bonuses in half and to stretch the exec bonuses (that fall outside our contract with them and our FSP rules) out overtime, so that execs are more on the hook for the successful wind down of the company, which is the best way to protect taxpayers
• [Rather than the Senior Partners (top approx. 50 people) getting an aggregate of $9.6M in bonus now, they will get 50% in cash now (avg. payment of approx. $112K), plus 25% on July 15 and 25% on September 15 (avg. payments of approx $56K each). However, both of the 25% payments will be contingent upon the Board finding that the steps in the disposition plan are being met at each payment date.]
• Renegotiate and reduce 2009 retention bonuses.
  Recoup the money in 30 billion AIG restructuring agreement

Following the conversation, Secretary Geithner asks for Liddy letter to codify the changes.

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY (3-14 & 15)

Following deadline on Friday, treasury attorneys continue to look at legal solutions for recoupment.

SUNDAY EVENING (3-15)

POTUS asks the economic and legal team to continue looking for ways to recoup the bonuses.

barry in classic obamanator form gets involved after the bonuses were paid out on the 15th even though the WH confirmed he was notified on the 12th.

Folks, do you like having a president with no spine?

***
AIG Timeline
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
barry on AIG (video)
AIG: Edward Liddy (video)
Tim Geithner on Charlie Rose (video)
Mario Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned

AIG timeline

March 20, 2009

barry was “stunned” but Geithner, ex-president of the NY Federals Reserve Bank was working on TARP before he even got near barry. How stupid do they think we are?

AIG received more than $170 billion, which puts the government - taxpayer’s - stake at about 80 percent. 9 out of the top 10 as well as 15 ou the top 20 have agreed to give the bonus back in full.

Here’s a great recap by REUTERS:

Sept. 16, 2008:

American International Group, the world’s largest insurer, avoids bankruptcy after an $85 billion federal bailout that gives the U.S. government a 79.9% stake in the company.

Sept. 18:

AIG names Edward Liddy, former Allstate chairman, as chairman and chief executive. He succeeds Robert Willumstad, who steps down after three months on the job.

Oct. 3:

AIG announces plan to sell assets to repay its loan from the U.S. government. Moody’s Investors Service cuts AIG’s debt ratings, citing the company’s plans to sell assets, limiting the insurer’s ability to do business.

Oct. 10:

AIG says it had borrowed $70.3 billion from the government as of Oct. 8. AIG draws fire after reports it had spent $223,000 on hotel rooms and spa services days after it got the federal loan.

Oct. 15:

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he is investigating “unwarranted and outrageous” spending by AIG. Cuomo seeks a full accounting of “bonuses, stock options, severance payments, gratuities, benefits, junkets and any and all other perks.” He wants AIG to recover or rescind the payments.

So Cuomo was already on to the bonuses. barry gets elected and begins transition.

Nov. 6:

AIG says the total owed under its $85 billion line of credit from the U.S. government is down to $61.3 billion. AIG companies also had borrowed $19.9 billion under a separate $38 billion securities lending agreement, making the total amount the government had made available to AIG about $123 billion.

Nov. 25:

AIG says Liddy’s salary will be $1 for the coming year and rules out 2008 bonuses for AIG’s seven top executives. Fifty more executives won’t get raises in 2009, the company says.

Dec. 2:

AIG and the government agree to clear the insurer of its obligations on about $53.5 billion in bad mortgage debt.

Dec. 22:

German reinsurer Munich Re says it will buy AIG’s HSB Group for $742 million.

Jan. 26, 2009:

AIG says it is working with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch to sell a fund management business that operates 15 funds with more than $12.4 billion in assets.

March 2:

The Treasury and the Fed announce a third new aid plan for AIG, putting $30 billion more at its disposal.

March 14:

AIG once again comes under criticism after reports that its financial products unit is obligated to pay at least $165 million in employee bonuses.

Geithner pix of the day: About to blow a gasket

March 24, 2009

…If Maxine Waters doesn’t leave me the hell alone I’m gonna sic my IRS auditers on her.

Why does he keep pretending he didn’t know about the bonuses until March 10th? He was head of the NY Federal Reserve and was working with AIG and the rest of them back in September. And why doesn’t the press keep hounding him - and barry?

AIG bonus breakdown

March 20, 2009

Rundown of the bonuses. No names as yet - that I’ve seen. AIG Liddy said that some will return their bonuses 100% - but he wants to protect their identities because of death threats.

AIG BONUSES BY THE NUMBERS:

• 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

Source: New York Office of Attorney General

AIG: Edward Liddy

March 20, 2009

I honestly don’t know what to say about these pigs who accepted that money and I can’t understand how they could use the excuse they needed to keep the best people when those same people made the very decisions that allowed the company to fail.

On top of that 11 of the greedy men aren’t even working there so that logic means nothing. And they were afraid of a lawsuit? So let them try and sue and expose their names to the press.

Here’s Edward Liddy in October saying what he wants to do to save AIG. He really can’t be the scapegoat because he’s working for a dollar and came out of retirement to try and help. I wonder if he can just quit.

drenima55

And here he is before Congress - abbreviated.

talwanonline

Tim Geithner pix of the day: Just try it, barry

March 20, 2009

news.aol.com

Doesn’t take a thousand words to translate this look. You throw me under barry - I tell them how little you know about anything - except for the bonuses. barry told him and Dodd to give the bonuses but hide it barry transparency style. Unfortunately they got caught - but only after they lied. Change we can believe in!

***

Geithner Pix: Beam me up Scotty
Geithner Pix: Uh, what?

List of financial achievements
TurboTax made me do it
barry on Geithner

Rep LaTourette: “giant sucking sound…tightening of sphincters on both ends”

March 20, 2009

Just watch. He's referring to the AIG bonuses.

08blatz

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH): Ross Perot when he ran for president in 1992 talked about the giant sucking sound. Well, today, there’s another giant sucking sound going on in Washington D.C. And that’s tightening of sphincters on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as people are having to explain who put into the stimulus bill this provision of law.

The sucking sound ended up being Chris Dodd being thrown under the tires of the bus.

Pix of the day: Beam me up, Scotty!

March 18, 2009

This man’s face fascinates me. He is so clearly out of his depth and each day he looks a little more willing to admit to it. What are the folks saying who have declined his job offers?

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner

Mr President, it’s time to actually reach across the aisle…to Mitt Romney…if you haven’t already.

What your folks did, especially Dodd’s attempted cover up, is vintage Washington.

Campaign promises are over - words do matter - start meaning them. You mesmerism is fading fast and people are actually hearing the emptiness of your teleprompter speeches.

ps Your use of transparency has expired. Try *honesty*.

Rep Connie Mack: “The Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster”

March 18, 2009

Tim Geithner is sinking fast. One wonders if he wants to be forced out early. He looks adrift.

Rep Connie Mack (R-FL) makes an excellent point:

Well before Timothy Geithner became Secretary of the Treasury, he was working hand-in-hand with AIG and other financial institutions to provide them hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money as one of the key architects of the financial sector bailout.

I was outspoken against the bailouts then, and I’m even more outraged now.

I’ve had serious concerns about Secretary Geithner from the moment he was nominated. In the months since, he has shown us time and again why he was the wrong choice for this critical post. This week’s news on the AIG bonus scandal is but the latest fiasco under his watch and he has lost the confidence of the American people.

Quite simply, the Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster.

I know nothing about business or the economy or whatever - but who in their right mind thought a man who had used TurboTax, been audited by the IRS and still didn’t pay up was the right man to straighten out the economy and head up the IRS?

Source: CNN

barry on AIG (video)

March 16, 2009

barry’s outrage is 6 months late and 3 months seriously overdue. He should have expressed it before the bailout money was disbursed and The American People should have been able to know about it so they could pressure their elected officials. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Transparency is an imaginary concept with barry.

AIG $165M bonuses after a $170B bailout?

March 16, 2009

Today's question is the same as yesterday's: Does Timothy Geithner inspire confidence?

How hard is this AIG thing to figure out? And why wasn't this in writing before they received any cash whatsoever?

AIG got $170B in bail out money and they are going to use $165M in bonuses. AIG lost $61.7B last quarter and yet the bonus deal was made in 2008 "before they were in serious financial trouble". Wrong. And the government knew about the bonuses before the bailout but it is only now coming to light?

Why?

Where is this transparency barry's always babbling about?

BARNEY FRANK: These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don't have a right to their jobs forever.

I don't know anything about business, but something about this seems straightforward and the rest of it scummy. It's like standing in line at the food bank and saying you have nothing to eat and then refusing to accept anything but gourmet food. Or having no clothes and expecting a designer outfit. Or telling the bank thanks for rescuing me from foreclosure but I need a loan to go on vacation.

Where are these people's names? Put them in every magazine. Put a website up with all these bailout companies and give a run down of how much money the people, who caused the problem, will profit from the bailout. Let The American People see the greed first hand. Also list the people who were part of the deal-making process and knew about the contracts. They all need to be shamed. Then do a background check on every single person getting a bonus. See if they have paid their taxes.

And this argument that if they don't pay the bonuses they'll lose"talented people"? These talented people are responsible for what happened and they knew no matter what happened their money was safe. That is why it happened.

Why not force whatever section is getting the bonuses into bankruptcy? Make them chose a job or no job and a bonus. Or tell them they won't get their bonus unless x happens. That should be stimulus enough for things to turn around.

How many hardworking autoworkers were laid off? Will be laid off? $165M could save a lot of jobs and houses. How many AIG shareholders have lost their IRAs, jobs and homes? A percentage of those bonuses should go to tax payers.

If there is no way around these bonuses then make these people donate their time. Make them do community service. They must be held accountable.

BARRY:

In the last six months, AIG has received substantial sums from the U.S. Treasury. I've asked Secretary Geithner to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.

Six months?

Why is this only coming out now?

What else is going on behind the scenes?

It's becoming clearer why no one wants to work with Geithner.

Pix of the day: Uh, what?

March 15, 2009

Does this man inspire confidence?

Treasury Secretary, Head of the IRS, tax cheat Timothy Geithner

Favorite excuse: I've only been on the job x weeks.

And why doesn't anyone want to work for him?

***

List of financial achievements
TurboTax made me do it
barry on Geithner

barry obamates on Tim Geithner the tax cheat

January 14, 2009

It's not a barry Rezko "boneheaded mistake" this time it's an "innocent mistake". This is absolutely insane. The man who is going to be head of the Treasury, which also means head of the IRS has been audited by them and still didn't come clean until after he was nominated. I can see the first time but after the audit? Yes. These are tough times. But if a guy can't pay his own taxes - or ok made a honest mistake over the last decade and didn't realize it - how is he going to head up the IRS? He didn't know he had to pay taxes? What in the hell type of financial wizard is he?

And what kind of innocent mistake was the lapsed legal immigration status of his housekeeper?

What good was barry's whatever page questionnaire?

What is it going to take folks?

vandura1500

REPORTER: Are you considered that Timothy Geithner's taxes mishap will affect his chance of confirmation?

BARRY: No, Tim Geithner, when I nominated him, was rightly lauded by people from both sides of the aisle, from the market, from labor, as somebody who is uniquely qualified to deal with - as what Lindsay described properly as - the biggest crisis that we've had since the Depression. Ya know, look, is this an embarrassment uh-uh for him - yes. He said so himself. But it was an innocent mistake. It is a mistake that is commonly made for people who are working internationally or for international institutions. It has been corrected. He paid the penalties. And, as I've said before, if my criteria whether it was for cabinet secretary, or vice presidents, or presidents, or reporters was that if you've never made a mistake in your life - none of us would be employed. So, my eh-eh-eh expectation is that he will be confirmed. And my expectation is that he is going to do an outstanding job on part-on part - on behalf of the American people.