Geithner blasts Bernanke, Bair, Schapiro in "expletive-laden critique" for criticizing reform plans

[camera obscura]

The Obama administration’s sweeping financial regulatory reform proposals have been met by criticism from lawmakers and the financial industry, but dissent from fellow federal regulatory agency heads was too much for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to take.

Last Friday, Geithner said enough is enough, using a meeting at the Treasury to throw down the gauntlet to officials from other agencies.

“We planned this meeting as a venue to deliver a tough message to regulators that we should work together to get reform done -- and focus less on protecting turf,” said Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Geithner directed an expletive-laden critique at the heads of the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the SEC, and other agencies.

One source familiar with the meeting said, “It was a sh*t storm."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/08/throw-down-geithner-blasts-government-regulators-for-criticizing-administrations-financial-reform-me.html

WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124934399007303077.html

[rucky]

1. Good!

Time to get angry at these bankster whores.

[camera obscura]

3. Not quite - he's getting angry at regulators, pushing for more reform

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/08/04/why-geithners-outburst-bodes-ill-for-regulatory-reform/

Bair for one has been a proponent of doing for the big banks what the FDIC does for the smaller ones. That is, nationalize, get rid of bad assets, re-privatize.

[theoldman]

2. Sometimes you have to use strong words to get your point across.

The down side is that when you lose your temper you have lost your self control.

[Uzybone]

4. Why is almost every website comments dominated by right wingers

apart from the NYTimes, every M$M site seems to be dominated by right wing comments.

[timeforpeace]

5. He's too much the face of the president's economic policy to be emotionally unstable like this.

[Supersedeas]

7. underoos all bound up in a hissy fit

[amandabeech]

6. Obama's plan is to put more regulatory firepower in the hands of the Federal Reserve.

Lots of smart, experienced people are against transferring that much power to the Fed, in light of the fact that it is a quasi-independent entity and the fact that Bizarro Ben played fast and loose with the TARP concept.

If Geithner can't convince his peers that the Fed is the right regulator, then maybe he should reconsider his own position instead of cursing out those who disagree with him.

I have not been a fan of Geithner based on his policies past and current, but it seems now that he may not have the temperament for the Treasury job in the current difficult environment.