Geithner: Can’t get taxes straight, can’t get dates straight…
Can he get anything straight? TurboTax failed him. So, apparently, did Outlook calendar.
Hapless Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claims he didn’t find out about the AIG bonus issue until March 10. This was contradicted by AIG president Edward Liddy’s testimony before Congress earlier this week. Liddy was right. Geithner was wrong. And it’s all on videotape. DealBlog this morning referenced a House hearing on March 3 in which Geithner was directly questioned about the specific bosnues, a full week before Geithner claims he was made aware of the impending controversy. C-SPAN archives has the clip (also now on YouTube):
And here’s the transcript now circulating on the Hill:
Full Question From House Ways And Means Committee Hearing, 3/3/09:
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY): “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to the committee, Mr. Geithner, and thank you for your responses so far. It never ceases to amaze me the level of apparent amnesia some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have had about how we got to this problem in the first place, and I thank you for answering Mr. Heller’s question in particular.
“By the line of questioning, you’re almost led to believe that because of a last month and a few days of a presidency we had the problem we have today, and thank you for setting the record straight. This didn’t happen overnight. This took eight years in the making of stagnant, at best, growth. But yesterday, Mr. Secretary, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve announced a new fourth plan to rescue troubled financial services giant AIG. I do agree that AIG’s sustainability is the lynchpin for some of our recovery efforts, and it’s important for the federal government to work to keep it afloat. However, I must demand that AIG increase the accountability and transparency, something that was not done during the previous administration.
“For example, just last month, AIG paid 343 employees of AIG FP — their Financial Products division that created the financial hole that AIG is in, and in turn a multibillion-dollar bill for American taxpayers — $56 million in bonuses and are slated to pay an additional $162 million in bonuses to 393 participants in the coming weeks. And there’s more. Further bonus payments totaling approximately 230 million (dollars) are due to 407 participants at AIG’s Financial Products division in March 2010.
“This makes no sense to my constituency. And I’m not here to bash compensation — we can go a little overboard as well — but this company claims to be on the brink of disaster and it’s handing out bonuses. I would like to work with you in structuring tough, commonsense compensation limits at AIG and this new government loan, which would include voiding these bonuses to AIG FP employees as well as claw back $56 million in bonuses already paid to AIG FP employees December 2008 and 2009, some of whom are not even American citizens but who are living large on taxpayer funds. Can you please share with us, this committee, your thoughts on taking these actions.”
Secretary Geithner: “Congressman, thank you. I just want to point out that compensation practice across the financial services industry over the last years and decades just got out of whack with basic fundamentals, and people were paid for risks that weren’t captured in compensation, and part of what we do to make sure this kind of crisis doesn’t happen in the future is to change those basic incentives, and there’s going to be a role for government in doing that.
“Now, it’s very important that we make sure that we’re providing exceptional assistance to these firms, that that assistance is going, again, to achieve the objectives of these programs, not to reward the kind of executives that got us in this mess. I’m deeply committed to that objective.
“The president laid out some very comprehensive conditions in his proposals last month. Congress passed as part of the recovery act a set of additional provisions. We are now in the process of designing regulations, guidelines to apply those provisions and we’re going to be as careful and responsive as we can to the concerns you have, so many Americans have about how these resources have been used. And I just want to say that the judgments made by these boards of directors and senior executives across parts of the financial have just caused a lot of damage to public confidence and the quality of their judgment, and they have a deep responsibility and obligation to make more careful judgments going forward.
“But we’re not going to be able to depend on them to do it. We’re going to make sure that there’s conditions that come with our assistance to assure that. So we’re going to figure out how to apply these new provisions in a way that’s as carefully designed as possible. Obviously, we want these businesses — we want to achieve the objectives of what we did in the IT. We want them to be able to run their business and restructure so that we’re in a better position going forward and that’s going to — that’s why this is sort of hard to do. But we’re going to be very careful in doing it and very much share your concern.”
How much longer does Geithner “take full responsibility” for his failings without suffering any consequences?
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Side note: One of the congressional offices circulating the info comes from a GOP lawmaker who voted FOR the cover-their-backside confiscatory AIG bonus tax yesterday.
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Related…Here’s my segment yesterday with Cavuto questioning when the expiration date on Geithner’s tenure will finally kick in:
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This guy is a total joke. Horrible horrible pick.
C’mon Michelle - give Timmy the Tax Cheat a break.
So he goes by the Julian Calendar – so what?
1. What about the 4th and 14th Amendments though: 1) For the government to pry into a business’s inner workings to see who received bonuses and who did not: is this not an “unreasonable search”? I don’t recall any judges giving Congress any warrants. What crime has AIG committed? 2) Do we now consider this due process of law in order to deprive people of property? This is, in effect, what the government is doing, regardless of whether they are calling it a new tax or not.
2. If the government can change the deal after the fact with a company you may not like, how then will you feel if it were with a company you do like? Or with a company you own? Or with yourself as an individual.
Maybe a straight jacket would help… Just thinkin’
Chap, A rare opportunity to agree with you completely! Cheers.
Sorry, wrong thread (there’s a first for everything.)
Actually, Einstein theorized that there is no such thing as a straight line; everything is curved. Not that anyone will confuse Mr. Geithner with ol’ Albert E.
His days are numbered.
Wow. Apparently he saw the 90% tax rate coming too.
Could it be that some of the smoke will be blown clear and allow at least some people to get a glimpse at what is happening here? Thank you Michelle!
This smoke and mirror trick to cover up the man behind the curtain while he leads us down the road to nationalization has got to end.
Recent events in DC remind me of another Albert E favorite: “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Einstein
I can hear the Obama bus warming up for Tim to get thrown under.
Welcome to the world of unintended consequences Mr. Geithner. Enjoy.
“Pay no attention to that lying tax cheat behind the curtain, Dorothy.”
Oh my darling liberal friends. They really have no idea who Tiny Timmy is, but they heard Brobama tell Leno that Tiny Timmy is doing a great, great job … so they think so too!
“That’s not the Tim Geithner that I know!” (exclaimed He Of Magnificent Glistening Pecs, as he was backing up the bus).
Cavuto hit on something right at the end, you were on this story long before the mainstream media. Not bad for a “non-reporter”!
How this boob ever got confirmed says volumes about the rest of the boobs in D.C.!
Failed Administration.
For at least as long as Prez O. He declares publicly that he is the President, and he will take the blame. Too bad nobody in the press is blaming him.
Geithner is the reason I support standardized testing before moving to the next grade level.
circus-obamus has really no choice in this farce. timmy, the highwire clown, is due in the g20 meeting in 10 days. so ringleader barry the magnificent can’t throw timmy under the bus, because barry the magnificent hasn’t appointed any substitutes. barry the magnificent might have to go to london and show the finance ministers and leaders of the world what a lightweight he is as well as clueless. timmy at least talks the talk, barry can’t do that.
It’s even better than that…
Friday, March 20, 2009
Exclusive: Treasury, Fed Reviewed AIG Bonus Info Months Ago
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/treasury-fed-reviewed-aig-bonus-info-months-ago/
The Tel-o-Prompter is sweating a little. Turbo-Tax-Cheat-Tim may have to assume the “under-bus” position. We all know about people having skeletons in the closet. This is a first where the “TOTUS” has the bodies lying out in the open, strewn everywhere. It would be hysterically funny if it wasn’t so deadly serious. Maybe this is really what went on in the old soviet union?
Has anyone given a caption to this famous picture of Guithner yet? It should say, “Wow. I should have had a V-8!”
I think someone can expect a visit from Sheriff Joe…
I hope TIMMAY! (South Park, anyone?) doesn’t have any sharp edges, because he’s going under the bus. I’d hate to see a blowout on such a big and fast-moving vehicle.
Competence is boring! 8<)
He needs to go. Along with Barney Frank et al. They all knew about these bonus’s yet continued to whip up the masses to cover their sorry backsides. Barney Frank is especially repugnant, as he even went as far as to call out for the recipients names, knowing full well that the whole charade was cooked up to satisfy the mob. I have never felt more disgusted with Washington as I do right now and that goes for the R’s who also voted for the 90% tax. They all should be ashamed of themselves.
Timmy takes it in the shorts, Congress (ALL of ‘em) take turns in the demolition derby, and His Magnificence goes on tour to entertain we the wretched refuse with his bon mots, smiling eyes, and whatever other extraordinary visual and intellectual adjectives the MSM can attach to their beloved’s countenance.
I agree if you’re talking about Obama! Is it too soon to start impeachment?
“TurboTax Timmy” must be used to the cloistered environment of the Fed. Somebody should have told him the real world doesn’t work that way and somebody might see the obvious scams and slight-of-hand tricks in the real world. I don’t expect this guy to last through the mid-term elections.
“I was against the bonuses before I insisted that Senator Dodd insert legislation into the act that protected the bonuses.” — “TurboTax Timmy”
Turbo Tax Timmy is being set up for an Atomic Wedgie of historic proportions. Hope he’s wearing his good underwear.
Uh, we already knew Geithner lied. He’s the ONLY treasury employee so who else would have demanded amendment to the Dodd Protect the AIG Bonuses amendment in the Pork = U Less bill? That was passed February 12th by the Senate as I recall. Geithner knew about the bonuses then.
NJ-Navigator: thanks for the link:
From the Fox News Document spill:
which shows that IF the O administration didn’t know about the bonuses, it’s due to their incompetence since the transition team was in on the information.
Man, I’ve read this through 3 times now and I still don’t think he actually said anything.
Forget it – this guy’s a patsy, a scape goat. He’s there to take our attention away from Obama’s glaringly obvious shortcomings.
If he was appointed to actually succeed we know from past actions that Obama would have tossed his stupid butt under the bus a LONG time ago.
On March 20th, 2009 at 1:01 pm, drivingjack said:
How much longer does Geithner “take full responsibility” for his failings without suffering any consequences?
For at least as long as Prez O. He declares publicly that he is the President, and he will take the blame. Too bad nobody in the press is blaming him.
Maybe that’s the plan. O takes the blame for everything ’cause he knows he’ll never get called on it by the MSM (or anybody in that world…).
His peeps screw up, O takes the hit. No blame goes around. Case closed.
Beautiful.
Egoists/narcissists, have no sense of humor because only other people have ever done anything wrong and since they’re way better than you, there’s not one good reason in this world for them to care about making you laugh.
Not to mention they are egoist and narcissist by personal anomaly so humor is optional.
A national law should be instituted to prevent NPD sufferers (you and me) from contact with these sociopaths in any position unless they are under a sane persons authority and never as an equal and for all the world, never, should they, ever, be allowed to be in charge of human beings.
I have no love for Obama, hell, not even any mild concern- but Ole Tim Tim threw himself under the bus through fecklessness. Of course putting someone who could not file his own taxes in a timely and accurate manner in charge of the IRS was monumentally stupid.
Obama takes the blame in a very strange way. He said: I am the president and I am responsible. These contracts were not made by me. I inherited this problem.