Telling would only destabilize the market and aid those who hate our Freedom

WASHINGTON — A House of Representatives committee chairman has invited Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to testify why, immediately after he was nominated, federal regulators decided not to reveal the generous terms of $62 billion in taxpayer-financed payouts to major banks.

The White House, responding to the release of internal e-mails drawing Geithner into yet another controversy over the government's handling of the nation's financial crisis, reiterated President Barack Obama's support for his treasury secretary. Asked whether Geithner still has Obama's full confidence, presidential Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "Of course."

The e-mails show that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which Geithner headed from 2003 to 2008, directed the giant insurer American International Group for months to keep secret the terms of the payments to Goldman Sachs and other U.S. and European banks.

McClatchy reported Thursday that lawyers for the New York Fed began to press AIG attorneys to maintain secrecy about the payouts on Nov. 24, 2008, hours after Geithner was nominated for his Cabinet post. AIG lawyers voiced their disagreement on several occasions over the ensuing months until the details of the payouts were made public last March.

As a result of the delays, Geithner never had to face questions at his Senate confirmation hearings last January about the New York Fed's decision to pay the banks the full face value of insurance-like bets called credit-default swaps...

We must not tell where the money went if we want a $table Free Market!



The White House falls back on the old Sargeant Schultz defense:

MR. GIBBS: Ed, I'd point you to the Treasury Department. I'm sure you've already talked to them. Secretary Geithner was not involved in any of these emails. These decisions did not rise to his level at the Fed. These are emails and decisions made by officials at an independent regulatory agency --

Q: But how do you know that he wasn't involved? He was the leader of the New York Fed.

MR. GIBBS: Right, but he wasn't on the emails that have been talked about and wasn't party to the decision that was being made...

Yes, that should answer all you nattering natterbobs of negativism. Take another hit of Hopium, and the more it all Changes, the more it stays the strangest.