Why Did Obama Select Geithner as Treasury Chief?

Timothy Geithner

By Tony Vega

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.