10:48 am: Tim Geithner is that boring English literature substitute teacher who reads in a staccato, not quite monotone, like its the first time he’s read out loud in public and he’s really distracted by the blond in the front row who sprouted about three years early. (Be that Dave or Dana, we don’t yet know).
His opening statement was a snoozer too.
Sez Geithner: “These were careless mistakes, they were avoidable mistakes, but they were unintentional. I have gone back and corrected these mistakes, and paid what I owed.”
Well, he’s one step ahead of an illegal immigrant then.
I think he thinks that if he keeps repeating “These were careless mistakes, these were avoidable mistakes,” it will all be ok. He’s said it now five times.
10:56 am: “Did you use software to prepare your tax returns?”
“I did.”
“What brand did you use?”
“…I used Turbotax to prepare my returns.”
Hah.
11:12 am: Who is this “John Kerry” person? He looks and sounds really familiar…. Nevermind. He must not be important. CNBC picked his time slot to break in to split screen and argue about Geithner’s lack of a plan and tax cheating.
Please tell me John Kerry didn’t just quote Paul Krugman. He did. Damnit. That guy is going to be impossible to live with now.
This exchange pretty much sums up the major issue we all face:
John Kerry: How exactly are you going to fix the “Zombie Banks” Paul Krugman refers to?
Chairman: You have negative twenty seconds.
Geithner: You’re right, Senator, the economy of the United States is very complicated. Thank you for your time.
I mean are you kidding me? This is the best this country has to offer? John Kerry quoting the likes of Paul Krugman, who, himself, stole the 10 year old term “zombie bank” from the EJ Kane order to be told by the Chairman that there are “negative twenty seconds left” and have the pretty boy tax cheat who wants to run the IRS but uses TurboTax to prepare his complex, multi-employer and NGO reporting tax returns admit that the United States economy is complicated? What the hell is wrong with these people?
11:37 am: “Mr. Geithner has been involved in about every flawed action in the recent administration….”
Here we go.
“Mr. Geithner does not provide a satisfactory explanation for the [tax] problem.”
Still, the Chairman, Senator Max Baucus, makes no apologies for trying to help the new administration get its economic team up and running.
11:45 am: I believe I have detected a pattern.
Senator: I am irritated that [tax reform / market pricing / the TARP / Zombie Banks / entitlement reform / local banks / the notice of this meeting] is not being addressed. Can you comment on that?
Chairman: You had 30 seconds, 25 seconds ago.
Geithner: Yes, the financial system is complex.
Huzzah!
12:07 pm: CNBC seems to think its all fine, this tax evasion (let’s face it, he didn’t pay it because he got away with it past the 3 year audit scope limit and he never planned to until he was vetted and someone told him to clean his fucking act up) since he apologized, and he is telegenic so let’s just move on. Nothing to see here. Move along.
12:12 pm: Geithner: I’m cracking… the… safe…. I’m cracking… the… safe.
That is so annoying.
12:24 pm: Geithner has morphed three times in this hearing. Now he reminds me of those Furby dolls- the ones that were banned in the CIA and NSA buildings because they recorded and repeated voices. Geithner seems to just spit out the same things over and over again. “Catastrophic failure.” “Careless mistakes. Avoidable Mistakes.” “Financial system… complex.” “Absolutely critical.” “Very important concern.”
We are confirming a robot.
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OMG, this guy is a disaster. This is the best we got?
Well put, EP.
Charles Grassley is quite the fun devil himself.
Isn’t Geithner the Goldman Sachs candidate? Or was it Rubin’s?
Probabablamatic.
Grassley seems like he was mostly bringing up Geithner tax issues as a way of harping on tax code reform, one of his pet issues. Also, I liked Geithner’s opening statement.
Should I stop using TurboTax? It’s free for me.
I find it hard to believe that on orientation day at an outfit like IMF, world bank, etc they DON’T have some wideclops saying “you know, Mr. G, we don’t take any payroll taxes out of your pay — you’ll be responsible for paying them yourself”. I also find it hard to believe that Timmay G looked at his pay stubs and never once said “hmm – no taxes withheld – wtf?”
The guy is supposed to be confirmed to be treasury sec’y – and thus the head of the IRS, the tax enforcement and collection arm of the US government. You CANNOT have a guy who totally blew off paying his payroll taxes in that position. It is unthinkable in that it eats away at any credibility he has. It is also demoralizing to the rank and file at the agency.
And all this nonsense about “his skills being essential” — oh BS. As DeGaulle always liked to say “the graveyards are full of ‘indispensble’ men”
Find someone else.
@ 7. Right on
I agree. Find someone else. Why would we want a tax cheater as head of the Treasury, who btw, oversees the IRS? There’s no one else in the whole U.S. capable of running the Treasury except for him. Highly unlikely.
Like someone at his level goes to orientation…. Its not like JPM where every two weeks the 1000 people that have been hired at all levels come together in the auditorium and hear about benefits, etc.
Unless this cheater is a double-secret GS Bitch, he’s toast.
Next!
As I reflect on the LIBERALS and the Declaration of Constitution, I’d like to toss my name in the ring for Secertary of the US Money. Me and my kids Dakota, Cody, Durango and Cimmaron will be happy to move to Warshington despite all the LIBERALS and there Bush bashing. Look how safe we have been!!!
Nothing but clean, honorable, right-living folks in the comments section.
@10 true. I usually take a nap during orientation (esp when it is dark)
@ 10 — oh sure, he’s just too friggin important. Then let’s just quit this bogus charade of “equal under the law” and let the elites “at his level” do whatever the fuck they want.
Sorry, I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.
@11, YEAH RIGHT. Anyone w/ a brain knows he’s getting confirmed, no question.
Kerry. What a douche. Opening statement: “I look forward to supporting your nomination”. At least give the appearance of asking questions and makign an informed decision.
WTF ? Turbotax ? really ? We are fucked….let me rephrase that…Twe are FUCKED!
I apologize for the non-sequiter, but BarcLehs stock is getting hammered. How NOT surprising how poorly these deals (BCS/LEH, ML/BAC) are turning out.
Anyway, @17, exactly.
Too long; didn’t read.
15 Its not a question of being too important. Much as you would like complete equality, the reality is that when you reach a certain level in any organization you dont fill out benefit forms and go to orientation. Think Dimon was in that auditorium his first week, hearing about benefits and payroll along with all the newly hired tellers and customer service people and a few junior bankers as well? Nor does he do his own tax return.
Put this in context. Would McDonald’s hire someone to work the register if they knew from his prior employer that he is either too stupid to balance it out or, worse still, would pocket the money for himself?
Don’t worry, Timmay. Just get authorization to have the mint make a special midnight run of the presses for you.
Could these Senators ask any longer, tangent-like questions? Seems like every question is 5 minutes long and is just a series of rambling thoughts.
Could these Senators ask any longer, tangent-like questions? Seems like every question is 5 minutes long and is just a series of rambling thoughts.
I do not know why this angers me so much. Maybe it is an integrity or character issue.I agree with EP, the leader of the IRS using Turbotax to poorly prepare his taxes. The BSD in Finance employing someone with shaky credentialsin his home and America so desperate that we ignore these “little” issues because times are bad. Does that make any fucking sense?
Actually I hope they do let him in, then we can all use the Geithner/Turbo Tax defense.
Go short the dollar. Now.
25 That’s because they aren’t really asking questions, but instead bloviating. If you’re having trouble, its because its a Washington thing.
Of course Kerry quoted Krugman.
What better authority can one dumbass cite than another dumbass!
*facepalm*
wall street needs real leaders, ones that would rather than bring the ship down than suck at the teat of th elikes of BF barney frank
Turbo tax my arse. I find it impossible to belief that this guy does his own taxes. Completely unbelievable and irresponsible. I second the point above about the IMF likely guidance. This guy completely blew off his taxes!!!
Is that the wife behind him (to the left)? She looks like trouble.
Say it Timmay, “My wife did my taxes.”
I don’t care if he attended orientation or not. Timmy there received letters detailing his responsibility in paying those taxes. And duh, it’s not like it’s the first paying job he’s ever had. He *KNEW* he had to pay taxes and thought he’d get away with it.
Is this the kind of guy – one lacking completely in integrity and isn’t even ashamed of it in public – we should have in times of crisis? WTF!
Jim Bunning is the worst
@21 – conflating defense arguments a bit aren’t we? If you’re too important to attend orientation or think clearly about your obligations under U.S. law (see, Geithner, Rubin, etc.) then you should not be preparing your own taxes, n’est-ce pas???
@24/25
And you were expecting, what, exactly?
Change we can believe in
Who was the female senator who was asking about Madoff and FINRA?
@41 Why? are you in to her
What an idiot. He should have bought the Turbo Tax IRS/SEC/Senate Interrogation Protection Plan for an extra $39.95. Then he wouldn’t need to deal with this…
Well morons, he wasn’t running the IRS back then and won’t have operational control now, so get over it.
America’s being shocked out of its consumption coma and we’re all waking up to an atrophied economy.
It’s brilliant, get a tax cheat in there to offer advice on how to get the rest of the tax cheats out there.
Timmay telegenic? Are you gay? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
@40
Yes We Can!
This Geithner clown has zero credibility that he will do what he says he will do. The guy got caught committing tax fraud. He’s not even claiming that his taxes are “too hard, too complex”.
Among the Democrats, Sen. Baucus is one of the most Republican. Keep that in perspective, this man will be confirmed and by a respectable margin.
Dust yourselves off and get back to work.
@51 FTW!! LOL
EP, is he telegenic or is he a boring guy who speaks in staccato? The intersection of those two is vanishingly small, although I suppose if you’ve got a thing for nebbish guys born to be bureaucrats you could just put cspan on mute.
“Posted by Novice, Jan 21, 2009 12:29PM
EP, is he telegenic or is he a boring guy who speaks in staccato? The intersection of those two is vanishingly small, although I suppose if you’ve got a thing for nebbish guys born to be bureaucrats you could just put cspan on mute.”
Reading is fundamental. I said CNBC thinks he’s telegenic.
If he gets in, Obama is over, a one-term non-wonder. How insanely hypocritical! Btw, not saying that Geithner couldn’t be a Congressman from Ny (Rangel) or even the Mayor of Wdc, but Sec’y of the Treasury? Hamilton is SPINNING in his grave. No cojones either. Take it like a man, step down and let Summers take the job with the agreement that you run the show behind the scenes. What glory is there in piloting an economy going straight into the sh—er anyway? And btw, the Street doesn’t like him!
Implied but unclear. Also I’m from Texas. Reading is a distant second behind God and keeping the gays from marrying.
Implied but unclear. Also I’m from Texas. Reading is a distant second behind God and keeping the gays from marrying.
He didn’t just cheat on his taxes – he also tried to take deductions for sending his children to camp. He also didn’t pay the penalty for taking money out of his 401(k) plan early. I’m not sure why anyone who makes as much money as he does would need to take money from his 401(k) early but maybe he just isn’t very good with money.
After the IRS told me he owed taxes for the years he was audited, he didn’t pay the taxes for the previous years until he was nominated for the Treasury department.
But I hope they do give it to him – this will prove beyond any doubt that Obama and his administration are corrupt and it also gives me an excuse not to pay federal taxes anymore. I already had them change my forms so that they don’t take it out of my paycheck – I will wait until I’m audited and then say “it was a mistake” because if Geithner can do it then I can also.
Is anyone else enjoying the dog and pony show?
This breed is really unique/interesting.
THE SHORT-HAIRED NORTHEASTERN GEITHNER:
- Good breeding? Check, well, hmm, ok sure Dartmouth, pass.
- Overall appearance? Nice coat sheen, clean fur, consistent coloration, bright eyes, straight teeth.
- He trots around well for an audience? Check.
- Obeys orders? Check.
- Doesn’t take a shit on his owner while people are watching? Check.
- Straight back, good posture? Well, a little crooked (but just a little!!!)
We have a winner folks!!!
@58…..You’ll have fun talking to the IRS.
Rush and I wish you guys would listen to us instead of debating Geithner here.
~Sean
Maybe the Geithner nomination was a gift from BO to Rubin for stepping down???
Can we have a look at the Senators’ tax returns? Please. I’d bet this year’s bonus that Geithner’s doesn’t hold a candle to some of the shady shit that these geriatric fucks get away with.
I will tell them that it was an “honest mistake” and I didn’t realize it. If Geithner can do it then everyone else can also. I’m not paying federal taxes when someone who cheated on his own taxes is in charge of the Treasury department.
Exotic tools. Exotic tools. Somebody shut this bitch up please.
Another fuckin’ Zombie sails in….when is this shit ever going to stop?
tim geithner is HOT.
@63 Ted Kennedy (too soon?) defends the estate tax, and meanwhile he and his relatives fight tooth and nail to declare their own inheritances ordinary income so it’ll be taxed at lower rates.
I’m sure all the respondents here have nice clean tax returns which will undoubtedly hold up under audit.
@69
No one here is in a confirmation process for Secretary of the Treasury
I can see how some think the tax thing innocent. McCain voters like myself have to let a marginal call like this go by; a partisan fight would be more confusing and distracting than anything else. But the Obama voters clearly should get rid of him.
And do they really want someone too shortsighted to clean this up earlier? He’s been making six figures at the Fed, he’s clearly an ambitious guy, he should have known this would surface someday. If he can’t manage his own latent risks, how can he manage the US economy’s?
He’s also totally compromised. He’ll have to promise the Senate Finance Dems all sorts of things to get them to overlook this.
Ok laides, besides Summers, who else would you critics suggest, please, enlighten me, otherwise shut the f’ up.
this is comical. Timmy is dancing around the question about the liability and statute of limitations on paying taxes. I think he still doesn’t understand the question. He made mistakes and regrets making them. Very familiar.
Jospeph Stiglitz
71 McCain voter = Palin voter; Palin voter = retard. So just go home.
How about someone who isn’t from the Fed, a private company created by banks with only banks on it’s board that can do anything it wants with money without approval from congress or any accountability.
Speaking of McCain voters… didn’t he and Cindy not pay real estate taxes on a couple of their condos for like 5 years, and only paid what they owned when he was the Republican candidate for President?
Pot, meet Kettle.
Can you imagine that this is the best that annointed one can come up with. This is just the tip of the slimy icberg that floated into the white house
I guess thats the change they were promissing… criminals in key positions instead of non criminals
#77 – everytime someone criticizes a Democrat or someone in Obama’s administration, someone has to bring up a Republican so that people stop talking about the issue. It won’t work anymore.
This isn’t about Republicans. This isn’t about Democrats. This isn’t about Bush. This isn’t about congress. This isn’t about other corrupt politicans.
This is about having someone in charge of the Treasury department who cheats on his taxes – that is it. That is the only issue here. You can either support them giving them job to Giethner or not but don’t try to change the issues by bringing up other people.
@77- provide a link or STFU
80 Or maybe what one person considers cheating, another considers an honest mistake. My reco would be to ignore the whole thing and concentrate on whether or not he’s qualified.
@82 you can lie to yourself but your not fooling any one here. Just say it .. my team right or wrong. Its the only way you can be a Democrat its the only way you can support socialism
Senate approval is a given. The last thing they want is to destabilize the economy any more by being pissy.
Anyway, an open secret is that, because of penalties and interest, carelessness like this is overall a big money-maker for the Treasury. The gummit loves to “lend” delinquent taxpayers money at 12% or more that they borrow at 0-3%.
Why are we even having hearings when it’s already been decided that he will be appointed?
#80 – if it was an “honest mistake” then why didn’t he pay the taxes he owed for the prior years after he was audited and realized he owed taxes instead of waiting until he was nominated? Even if it’s an “honest mistake” do you really want someone in charge of the Treasury department who can’t figure out how to do his own taxes? Do you want someone who needs to take money out of his 401(k) early because he needs the money right away?
I’m not sure why Geithner would do that but it seems very strange – he was making enough money that he shouldn’t need money suddenly. Maybe he was paying someone to stay quiet about something and didn’t want anyone to know.
The problem is that I don’t think Geither thought he was going to be nominated for this – they planned to give it to Summers but realized that they couldn’t because of what he said about women so they had to choose someone else but they wanted someone who would let Summers do the job.
86 You sound like a very stupid person. Just sayin.
I might be stupid but I can still figure out how to do my taxes.
88 Its probably not that hard if you make five figures and take the standard deduction because you still live with your parents.
Someone help me here:
Geithner’s *total* penalties plus interest on his unpaid tax obligations were only 3% ot the amount he underpaid.
By statute, interest alone is 6% per year, and penalties the same rate.
I’d like for the IRS to testify next as to why he got such a sweetheart deal.
Someone help me here:
Geithner’s *total* penalties plus interest on his unpaid tax obligations were only 3% in aggregate of the amount he underpaid.
By statute, interest alone is 6% per year, and penalties the same rate.
I’d like for the IRS to testify next as to why he got such a sweetheart deal.
I would love to see less chatter on the tax issue and more on why you do or don’t think he’s a good candidate. Or is that more difficult / less fun. Sort of like talking about Cheney without mentioning his shotgun accident.
I’d like to see some indication that Geithner is a stabilizing, confidence inspiring selection.There’s nothing in his resume to suggest he’s no more than a mediocre technocrat.It’s time to put Summers up and end this farce.
@92 Because having a tax cheat or someone too stupid or careless to file properly as head of Treasuary is not a good idea and sends the wrong message to the masses you ignoramous.
@92
He’s not a good candidate BECAUSE of the tax issue. Get it now? Seriously, that reason alone is enough to disqualify him.
You don’t put a wolf in charge of the hen house, you don’t hire a child molester to babysit your kids, and you don’t place a tax cheat in the position of “Head of the IRS”.
This guy is not sorry he cheated, he’s sorry he got caught.
This just does not work in a democracy; people should get PUNISHED for transgressions, NOT REWARDED. PUT IT UP TO A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE OR THE HOUSE AND HE’D BE CREAMED!!!!!!!!!