The Back Alley Archives

Familiar Trio at Heart of Citi Bailout
Rubin, Paulson, Geithner's Shared History Paved Way for $300 Billion Federal Guarantee

The bailout of Citigroup, which put the government at risk of hundreds of billions of dollars of losses, was set in motion by three men whose professional lives have long been intertwined.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.; Citigroup board member Robert E. Rubin; and Timothy F. Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, have for years followed one another in and out of jobs in government and industry. Their close relationships helped pave the way for one of the largest and most dramatic government interventions to date in the financial crisis.

i do agree with you slider that lame duck governance does no one any good.

there's got to be a better way to transition.

No I don't. Nor will we need one.

There are plenty of independent economists out there who aren't insiders. I'm not the one making appointments, I don't need a specific short list of candidates--my knowledge of their existence is enough for me.

I feel like I need to read a book or get training on cult deprogramming. Any reasonable person would admit that there are a multitude of qualified, independent candidates out there and Obama chose an insider instead.

to be fair AA - PE obama's got an agenda and his picks will no doubt help achieve his agenda...may not be the agenda he's been chirping about his whole campaign...could very well be a NEW agenda given we've established the thought that he is entitled to change his mind given the NEW news about some financial crisis that just occurred after he was formerly elected.

WTF??

The Hillary at State does confuse me a bit. I think she can definitely do the job. And she would be able to restore the image of the US around the world - an image that Bush and his idiocy has destroyed. She and Bill are very popular figures around the world, and when she was first lady, she did travel extensively. And I think that she does have some conncetions with foreign leaders that Obama doesn't have.

What I don't totally understand is their reasons for going this way. Why would she give up a safe Senate seat that she could essentially have until she died? Why would Obama want someone who might not realize that in the SOS position she was actually Obama's employee? Does he want her out of the Senate? Does she want more foreign policy experience for another run in 2016? The dance they have been doing does seem a but strange. I don't know how well they will work together.

Is it a good pick? Yes. Is it an unusual pick? Yes. Will it work? I don't know.

FYI...Hillary's nomination would likely be unconstitutional. Article I, Section 6.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

In other words, the elites are successfully pressuring Obama to appoint insiders like Summers, Geithner, Clinton, and Gates - who will ensure that nothing really changes - because the American people are idly sitting by taking a wait-and-see approach.

There are plenty of independent economists out there who aren't insiders. I'm not the one making appointments, I don't need a specific short list of candidates--my knowledge of their existence is enough for me.

I feel like I need to read a book or get training on cult deprogramming. Any reasonable person would admit that there are a multitude of qualified, independent candidates out there and Obama chose an insider instead.