Did You Know...

That’s #$%^&*!! Turbo Tax Tim Geithner to you!

I can’t help but think there were a few stifled giggles as the feckless Wonder Boy vented. Via the WSJ, here’s the scoop on how financial watchdogs are pushing back against Team Obama’s plans to consolidate their offices and give the Fed more power:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top U.S. financial regulators in an expletive-laced critique last Friday as frustration grows over the Obama administration’s faltering plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation, according to people familiar with the meeting.

The proposed regulatory revamp is one of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priorities. But since it was unveiled in June, the plan has been criticized by the financial-services industry, as well as by financial regulators wary of encroachment on their turf.

Mr. Geithner told the regulators Friday that “enough is enough,” said one person familiar with the meeting.

The story reminded me of a power shift I call attention to in Culture of Corruption away from the damaged Treasury Secretary to someone who really know how to drop the F-bombs — Rahm Emanuel. As the WSJ reported in May:

On Jan. 20, Timothy Geithner took control of the Treasury Department, directing the government’s response to the financial crisis.

Within three weeks, the White House tightened its grip, alarmed by the poor reaction to Mr. Geithner’s performance during the rollout of his rescue plan, government officials say. Since then, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been so involved in the workings of the Treasury that “Rahm wants it” has become an unofficial mantra among some at the Treasury, according to government officials.

Reuters sheds more light on the turf battle between Geithner/Emanuel and the regulators:

Top U.S. bank regulators will speak out on Tuesday against some key elements of the Obama administration’s plan to reshape financial regulation, saying parts of it were unneeded or could be disruptive.

The officials’ defiance, in prepared congressional testimony obtained by Reuters, came despite a warning given to them on Friday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

In private remarks punctuated with expletives, Geithner urged the regulators to end their turf battles and show support for President Barack Obama’s plan, according to a person familiar with the situation on Monday.

But that seemed to have little impact on John Bowman, acting director of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), an agency slated for closure under the Obama plan.

“We do not support the administration’s proposal to establish a new agency, the National Bank Supervisor (NBS), by eliminating the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency … and the OTS,” Bowman said in written remarks to be given to the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing…

John Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency, warned lawmakers in his remarks that the existing plan would wrongly give the Federal Reserve the right to ‘override’ the views of other regulators when it comes to supervising very large banks.

Such a move would “undermine the authority — and the accountability — of the banking supervisor” he said.

Stay tuned for more Bully Boy fireworks.