Tim Geithner Calls In NPR Fan Club to Bolster His Status.
Adam Davidson, a chatty, aimless, soft talking NPR schmoozer, was called at the very last moment to do a phone interview with Tim Geithner on Wednesday 25, and it is just posted on the NPR site for the truly committed worriers. The conversation is educational not because of what Geithner imparts but because of his evasive, repetitive, scripted, defensive, opaque, rhetorical style. Geithner talks as if he is being watched. And he is. His PR flack was in the room as he talked on the phone, and it is reported, by NPR's on the scene reporter during the interview, that the PR flack ran around frantically shoving notes in front of Geithner as he talked, to keep him on script. This explains why Geithner uses the metaphor "cloud of uncertainty" as if he was clearing his throat. Davidson is a flabby interviewer, a gossipy, gee-whiz guy, reaching to simplify and to make cosy the conversation. Geithner does not fall for it, he stays vague, scripted, pedantic and routinely condescending in a patient father style. Given that Charlie Rangel thinks that Geithner rides a Razor scooter to work, and others think he looks 12 years-old, there seems a confusion of roles. The most telling part of the interview is not illuminating but instead filled with windy, cautious, balanced, inert, inoffensive, management language:
"...if you underestimate the
problem
if you do too little too late
if you don't move aggressively
enough
if you're not open and honest
about trying to assess the true cost of this
then you will face a deeper
long lasting crisis
and our judgment is that the
necessary response is to try to bring more confidence
more transparency to the
strength of the system
to try to make sure we make capital available where it is
necessary to get credit flowing again
and to try and provide the
kind of direct support that is necessary to get the credit markets flowing
again..."
Citi Deal Announced Sort Of.
The day after Geithner's popcorn soft interview, Citibank says that is has reached a deal with the Treasury to allow the taxpayers to invest yet more into the zombie bank. The US now moves from owning 8% of the bank to owning 40% of the bank. Of note, moving from preferred shares to common shares, the people will not get paid a dividend. The board wil be rebuilt, but the usual suspect Vikram Pandit is to stay in his job as chief of the zombie. The market will shrug. Nothing impresses. It is that "cloud of uncertainty." It's raining. Hard rain. And my trader source tells me that next week's nonfarm payrolls will be a test of the SPX floor of 750. A day the market doesn't go down is a good day, that's what's left for the Obama administration to measure their policy. And for Tim Geithner? When do you know you have moved too little, too late, too nonaggressively, not openly, not honestly? Dow at 6900? 6000? I have no idea. Until and if "the credit flows again," any number is possible, and no solution will work.
Just how does this surprise anyone ?
NPR was not likely to sink it's teeth into Turbo Tax Tim and thus why it was selected... a similiar reasoning was used to role out an unsteady Alaskan Guv to the nation via the tender hand of S.Hannity (after being throttled by K.Couric and J Gibson that is)
Geitner's role has been shakey since day one and while i am not entirely convinced that is not a prerequisite of his hiring, Getting him some crunch time interview experience (even though it was w/ Captain Crunch, syrupy Davidson) can only help.
Geitner is a token to be played when this latest round of stimulus roulette falls on it's face... and it is more transparent everyday.
The masterstroke of this all... when it fails they will have the next trillion dollar package ready to roll... The real game afoot here is change everything in the first hundred days b-4 the loyal opposition begins to bite back (the problem with this is that Republicans are toothless...having thrown all credibility of fiscally responsible out the window in the past 8 years)
RE: CITI- the idea of propping up the "Weekend at Bernie's" Financial Giant is allow the cesspool and quagmire to rise and frighten the remaining members... Remember Lehmans... the first example of complete collapse... but at least Lehman's was buried... CITI is the rotting corpse that threatens the rest... JP,Wells,BoA
The plan... the further this economy tanks the more the public will demand any action to spare them more grief... and when the sentiment turns sour ... we can throw Geitner to the mob... and we can start fresh rounds of spending... with our next ready to roll stimulus package.
MR.B - What was the polical fallout from Japans Lost Decade?- watch for the parallels Folks we have seen this movie b-4
Citibank charges me 22 percent if I don't pay off my credit cards (I have no cc debt). Most banks are charging 0.2 percent for savings and NOTHING for checking. How does Citi NOT make money?
I understand the toxic investment issues, but should those investments have impact on a banks day to day operations?
The governement should rescue only the portions of the investment banks that are crucial and shut down the unecessary portions and stop the bleeding.
I don't see anyone jumping in to rescue the "Rocky Mountain News?" Very sad day in Denver.
I guess the "Main Stream Media" should hang up "mission accomplished" banners and call it day. They singlehandedly destroyed the GOP, Conservative thought, and the American Economy. 'atta boy!
By ticking off 50% of their readers and agressively supporting Obama and very liberal candidates in a country that still leans right, Newspapers are digging their own graves. For decades, these papers did one-sided "news analysis" and "hard-hitting" stories about red-lining and mortgages in poorer communities, with ACORN and other "Community Groups" feeding them stories. Bankers and Mortgage Brokers were hard pressed to fight innacuracies and articles that ignored economic common sense.
Requiescat in pace "May they rest in Peace".
Wisdom
In this post modern era, it becomes increasingly appropriate to classify “liberalism” as one of the world’s great religions. It comes complete with sins (littering), sacraments (abortion), and the obligation to proselytize. In addition, it fervently anticipates a second coming (of sorts), when all the world’s people will live happily under a single (red) banner. As such, it is largely immune to reason which can be seen as a ubiquitous but fragile net in which to catch the major debris of mankind’s illusions. All he rest, of course, passes through to infinity.
With this in mind, it is interesting to speculate just what Tim Geithner may have done to deserve eternal purgatory; why he now finds himself trapped between the infallible logic of financial markets and Obama’s transcendent vision of heavenly bliss (on earth).
Stocks Drop on GDP, Citi
Stocks fell after a revised reading on GDP showed a deeper economic slump than first thought. Citi's swap deal sent banks lower...
The technicians point that we have broken the SPX floor of 741-750 midday. Will it close below 741? Close below for the weekly. Grim tidings. Next floor is 600.