Geithner opposed crackdown on Wall Street
Perhaps this is not surprising from a former head of the New York Fed, whose job it is to canoodle with Wall Street bankers. I missed this yesterday from the NYT:
In the end, Mr. Geithner largely prevailed in opposing tougher conditions on financial institutions that were sought by presidential aides, including David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, according to administration and Congressional officials.Mr. Geithner, who will announce the broad outlines of the plan on Tuesday, successfully fought against more severe limits on executive pay for companies receiving government aid.
He resisted those who wanted to dictate how banks would spend their rescue money. And he prevailed over top administration aides who wanted to replace bank executives and wipe out shareholders at institutions receiving aid.
Comments
That Mr. Geithner prevailed is unfortunate. The primary objective of the bailout is supposed to be to enable banks to resume "normal" lending patterns. To accomplish that you either "trust" the people there to do the right thing or remove them and do it yourself. The incumbents have made it perfectly clear already that they have no intention of doing it themselves. President Obama has yielded to the views of a business as usual advisor at a time when anything but the usual is needed.
Posted by: Robert Dashiell | February 10, 2009 10:15 AM