Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Reinventing Crony Capitalism: the Context of Geithner’s Obscene Rant against Barofsky

Neil Barofsky, the former Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (SIGTARP), was one of the officials that made one proud of America.  Naturally, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner detested him.  Barofsky discusses Geithner’s antipathy for him in a newly published book: “Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.”  The juicy parts that have been discussed in the media involve Geithner’s epic “f” word rant against Barofsky in fall 2009 in response to Barofsky’s recommendations for greater transparency about TARP.
The Huffington Post article quotes from the book’s description of the meeting:
“As we parried back and forth, Geithner repeatedly reached a pitch of anger, regaling me with detailed expletive-filled explanations that established my apparent idiocy. He would then calm himself down and give me a forced, almost demonic smile.”
My column, however, expands on the article’s last paragraph:
“[T]he more-damning allegations of the book [are] that Geithner’s Treasury Department repeatedly tried to undermine Barofsky’s authority, ignoring his warnings about the risk of fraud in TARP programs and generally carrying water for the banking industry.”

Read more: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2012/07/reinventing-crony-capitalism-the-context-of-geithners-obscene-rant-against-barofsky.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+neweconomicperspectives%2FyMfv+%28New+Economic+Perspectives%29

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