Everybody Knows

It's been a while since I talked about Imperial Corruption, so I would like to get back to basics today. We have reached Phase III of the crisis that began when house prices started falling in mid-2006. Phase I culminated in the financial meltdown in the fall of 2008, and the subsequent economic bottom in March, 2009. Phase II, which we might call the "Green Shoots" Era, was characterized by Mass Delusion about our economic prospects, e.g. it's just another Business Cycle, etc. The stimulus gave the economy an artificial boost, which ended in the spring of this year. Paul Krugman may be the only person alive today who still believes the stimulus succeeded. Thus he wants us to shock the monkey once again.

Here in Phase III we are slowly coming to the realization that tepid economic growth, very high unemployment, and increasing, persistent poverty in America are going to be with us for a very long time. But throughout this long 21^st century depression, there has been one constant we can always depend on: entrenched corruption Inside The Beltway.

More and more, Tim Geithner embodies the ethos of persistent, shameless dishonesty. How else are we to explain this?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has met more often with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein than Congressional leaders, including the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader, according to his official calendar.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein has shown up on Geithner's calendar at least 38 times through March 2010 since the Treasury Secretary took office in January 2009, three more entries than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, 13 more than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and nearly four times as many as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner combined, according to a copy of Geithner's daily log recently published online by the Treasury Department.

The imbalance is striking, considering that Geithner was heavily involved in financial regulatory reform legislation, which Congress was grappling with during the period covered by the calendar.

All told, Geithner met with, spoke to, or attempted to secure conversations with Wall Street chieftains at least 49 times during the five-month period ending in March 2010, a slight increase from the 37 entries on his calendar during the previous five-month period.

But it's still far below his first five months in office, when Geithner met with chief executives from firms like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock at least 76 times -- more calendar entries than for the heads of the regional Federal Reserve banks, who are the top overseers of systemically-important banks like JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo -- or for top members of Congress like Reid, Pelosi, their Republican counterparts, and the heads of the Senate and House committees overseeing financial institutions and economic policy.

There is only one correct interpretaton of Geithner's priorities, and you can guess what it is. There is no ambiguity, there is no room for doubt. He is the Secretary of the Treasury. In theory, he works for you. But our cynicism is so ingrained, our expectations so low, that people get wind of who Geithner spends his time talking to and they don't blink an eye. Ho-hum. Same shit, different day—what's up with Angelina & Brad?

And then there is Obama and Geithner's recent treatment of Elizabeth Warren. You know Elizabeth—TARP overseer, consumer protection advocate, spokesperson for the American people. In the past, Elizabeth has dared to criticize the Secretary of the Treasury. Watch this!

Watch the weasel dance! Why did we bail out AIG (100 cents on the dollar)? Was it to give money to their counterparties, like the $13 billion that went to Goldman Sachs? Why do Tim and Lloyd talk all the time?

You can imagine there's some animosity between Elizabeth and Timmy. She'd like to know why Timmy laundered taxpayer money intended for Goldman Sachs (and Deutche Bank, etc.) through AIG. But revenge is sweet!

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Warren, who conceived of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will oversee its establishment as an assistant to President Obama, an official briefed on the decision said Wednesday evening...

Ms. Warren will be named an assistant to the president, a designation that is held by senior White House staff members, including Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff. She will also be a special adviser to the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and report jointly to Mr. Obama and Mr. Geithner. The financial regulation law delegated to the Treasury Department the powers of the bureau until a permanent director was appointed and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term.

The decision does not preclude the possibility that Ms. Warren could eventually be named director...

Does not preclude? As both Yves Smith and Mish pointed out, Ms. Warren just received the royal shaft! And why? Because she really wants to protect consumers from predatory banks. Yves tells it like it is—

But on a much more basic level, the Warren marginalization isn’t about personalities, although the powers that be love to pigeonhole thorns in their side that way. The clashes reflect fundamental differences in philosophy. Geithner, the Administration that stands behind him, and Dodd all are staunch defenders of our rapacious financial services industry, even though they make occasional moves to disguise that fact. Warren, by contrast, is clearly a skeptic, and a dangerous one to boot, because she understands the abuses well and is able to communicate effectively with the public.

There it is. Reality is sometimes not as complex as people make out. Regarding Imperial Corruption, there is no wiggle room, it's Black & White, it's Night & Day. As an American, you are either vested, however remotely, in this rotten system, or you're not. If you are, you deserve what you get. If you're not, you're out on your own. It sucks either way.

As you regular readers know, I wrote a letter to the President earlier this week. I advised him to get rid of Timmy and the other lap dogs for Big Finance he appointed almost 2 years ago. I asked him to level with the American people. But Obama is sticking with them. In fact, Geithner seems to be running the show, he is the clear winner. I guess Obama hasn't had time to read what Everybody Knows...

 

 

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[New Balance Shoes]

If children let yourself go doing any matter not to go to work, they learn not literature, music, also will not sports, will that guarantee moral peaked etiquette.Do you think so?