Courtesy of Pam Martens.
The President, Jack Lew and Outgoing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner Applaud Each Other At January 10, 2013 Press Conference Announcing the Nomination of Lew as Treasury Secretary
As expected, shortly after 1:30 today the President appeared at a press conference to nominate his Chief of Staff and former budget director, Jacob (Jack) Lew as U.S. Treasury Secretary. Lew will face a Senate Confirmation process before he can assume the post. Outgoing Treasury Secretary, Timothy (Tim) Geithner, was present for the nomination and was lavishly praised by the President.
The President’s remarks revealed no hint that the U.S. Treasury, which auctions the government’s U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds through Wall Street firms, is dealing with one of the most intractable periods of corruption on Wall Street this nation has ever witnessed. As one of numerous examples coming to light of continuing frauds, a global cartel of banks, including at least two of Wall Street’s largest banks according to affidavits, have fleeced cities and municipalities across the country by rigging the benchmark Libor interest rate. The firms have also cheated millions of investors by trading on insider information as interest rates were rigged on exchange-traded interest rate futures contracts.
One of the earliest men to become aware of the rate rigging was Geithner, then serving as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As we reported previously, Geithner testified before Congress that he reported his knowledge on Libor rate rigging to the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. That was in 2008, under the administration of George W. Bush, and included the SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Reserve and Treasury. It did not include the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the body with the power to bring a criminal investigation and prosecution. There are mountains of emails, affidavits and trading records showing a global conspiracy by banks against the public interest but there have been no prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice after four long years of regulatory scrutiny.
The praise bestowed upon Geithner by the President stands at extreme odds with the view of his government colleagues. Neil Barofsky, former Special Inspector General for TARP, portrayed Geithner as an evil genius in his book, Bailout. According to Barofsky, Geithner used the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to “foam the runways” for the banks, slowing down the foreclosure stream so the banks could stay afloat, with no genuine goal to help struggling families stay in their homes.
Sheila Bair, former head of the FDIC, paints an equally ominous picture of Geithner’s relationship with Citigroup in her book, Bull by the Horns. Geithner showered the insolvent firm with $2.5 trillion in Fed loans, taxpayer capital, and asset guarantees.
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