Why Did Obama Select Geithner as Treasury Chief?

Tony Jingo
Most of the nation, those with both ears open and not just their left one, heard about Timothy Geithner's tax problems. Barack Obama nominated him despite Geithner's failure to pay income tax for 5-years. While the nation listened to Geithner claim incompetence to explain his utter disregard for our tax laws, there was something more sinister involved regarding his horrendous resume and connection to Obama.

First, let's examine Timothy Geithner's resume.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

On Nov. 17, 2003 Timothy Geithner became the ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In that capacity, he served as the vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the group responsible for formulating the nation's monetary policy.

During Mr. Geithner's tenure as CEO he presided over some of the largest economic failures, such as the following illustrated by World Net Daily;

March 2008: Bear Stearns collapses from losses in sub-prime mortgage obligations and derivatives transactions; J.P. Morgan Chase buys Bear Stearns in a deal arranged by the Federal Reserve for the dramatically reduced value of $2 a share, with the Federal Reserve guaranteeing J.P. Morgan against $30 billion in Bear Stearns asset losses.

September 2008: Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers closes doors in bankruptcy after the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve refuse to arrange a merger plan, a bailout or a guarantee program to save the Wall Street giant.

September 2008: The Bank of America buys Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion deal that saves Merrill Lynch from having to declare bankruptcy.

September 2008: The Federal Reserve extends to insurance giant American International Group (AIG) an $85 billion loan that saves it from going bankrupt from derivatives loses in a massive $441 billion exposure to credit default swaps.

November 2008: Citibank received $45 billion through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) plus Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and FDIC guarantees on $306 billion in troubled assets held by the bank.

Note: Citibank recently spent $50 million on a jet after receiving public money.

Let's recap: Mr. Geithner claims incompetence when confronted about his failure to pay income taxes, if we don't buy this then the alternative is that Mr. Geithner is a criminal; either scenario isn't good and should preclude his position as Treasury Secretary. Mr. Geithner also presided over the nation's most recent and substantial economic failures.

Why Did Obama Select Geithner as Treasury Chief?

The devil is in the details and this content isn't designed to answer that question, but designed to actually raise more questions. A clue for the discerning can be found in the same WND report, which reveals that at the Ford Foundation in the early 1980s, Geithner oversaw micro-finance programs in Indonesia. Geithner reportedly met in person with Obama's mother, Ann Dunham. Dunham spent part of her career working in Indonesian micro-finance.

Published by Tony Jingo

An American Patriot with an independent view on today's topics. Jingo (noun) One who vociferously supports one's country  View profile

  • Geithner was president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY
  • Responsible for formulating the nation's monetary policy
  • Geithner presided over some of the largest economic failures
Mr. Geithner claims incompetence when confronted about his failure to pay income taxes, if we don't buy this then the alternative is that Mr. Geithner is a criminal; either scenario isn't good and should preclude his position as Treasury Secretary.

46 Comments

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  • Kofi Bofah8/14/2009

    Gaithner made a lot of mistakes dealing with the media and public early on. He seems to have learned to play the game a bit better these days.

  • Tyler Mills7/27/2009

    Geithner certainly lacks good public speaking skills, obviously many folks disagree with his economic stances, but his style is most troubling to me Tony.

  • B.A. Rogers2/28/2009

    Failure doesn't seem to be a problem in Washington sometimes.

  • RM Gal2/20/2009

    Excellent article! BTW, as you may know, there are no tax laws--only tax codes. In fact, paying taxes is voluntary, although the government doesn't treat it that way. So, Mr. Geithner is correct on that issue. As for the rest of it? Can we trust any CEO or ex-CEO?

  • Just a question2/14/2009

    I think he should pay his taxes like everybody else but when i first heard this i was wondering if he didnt pay those taxes because none of us are supposed to, im still new to the tax thing, after watching "america-freedom to fascism" so im wondering if this could be solved by him saying "show me the law" or something like that, did he not pay the taxes because none of us need to pay those taxes, or did he not pay them because he knew nobody would come after him over it. Thank you for the article
    *kisses*

  • Louisa Burgess2/10/2009

    hmmm good info Tony, and well researched

  • Sheri Fresonke Harper2/9/2009

    Well researched :) Sheri

  • H.Rox2/4/2009

    You're right. He's made some very frightening mistakes with some of his picks... not only this one, but Daschle.. and the CIA guy with no CIA experience. I really hope things get straightened out... not just for the people who voted for him but for the whole country. And, I think articles like this that question the choices he makes are an important part of making sure he's held accountable for his actions/picks.

  • Agnes Farside2/3/2009

    Double standards in action.

  • VOR2/2/2009

    This is administration joke...years from now those 52% that voted for Obama when polled would deny they ever voted for him.

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