Geithner says major banks have raised $56 billion

Is that a picture of Geithner showing them his endowedness?

Is this a surprise to anyone. What should be a concern is that the FED has "created" an estimated $10 Trillion that they will not tell anyone what they've done with .... wonder where these guys got the money from?????? I guess the pressure on bonuses made these guys take drastic measures.

The best part is that the FED, who has acknowledged to congressional committees that they have create Trillion dollar "off balance sheet" portfolios without any oversight or reporting, has been feeding these banks since Xmas. Since they can "create" as much money as they want with no debt or interest due (unlike the government) the question is why did we need to do TARP at all - couldn't the Fed (which is owned by the banks in the first place) just did what they did after Xmas???

The simple answer is that that didn't create any debt - when the Fed creates money it is debt free (just like when the banks create money), when the government wants to "create" money they have to borrow it from the FED or the Banks "at interest". So you figure our 700 Billion at 4% is 28 Billion a year .... plus another 5 - 15% to "sell" and issue the debt ... now you get the scam!

Is that a picture of Geithner showing them his endowedness?

Nope, it's the size of the average Conservative /Republican brain.

Yes, and he's probably exaggerating!!

Sounds like your worried he's got you beat Jeff.

Best man fo the job. Go watch the PBS Frontline documentary on the crisis and you will find the Bush appointees and Bush are the idiots. Geithner may just save the day with level headed thinking and not shooting from the hip.

Of course though a one liner from someone who has no clue what they are talking about is par for the course from the party of no!

The guy even looks like a weasel. He is not even close to being qualified for this job. Even the Dems want him gone.

Why is every comment made on Newsvine countered by a Bush comment? Good grief!

Why is every comment made on Newsvine countered by a Bush comment?

Because they haven't realized that Obama and Bush are cousins.

Don't blame Geithner too much. He is probably following orders. Although I did not like him saying they were not going to cap executive pay. Out of control pay and wall street profit taking was one of the reasons the economy tanked along with about seven other reasons. None of the factors that caused this downfall have been fixed. All the govenment did was borrow 2 trillion to inject into the economy. After all that is spent we will be in the same boat as before.

Well LOGDUMP,

with your ASSumptions you think all of us like the Bush years. Stop being an idiot and look at the moment, TAX dodger, and now he is in charge of WHAT? What a crock. get your head out of the Presidents Tail and do your own research on the people put up for offices.

There is a very simple problem at the center of this mess. He didn't create the mess, it was started 200 years ago with the 1st bank of the United States, nor is he responsible for the current malaise cause by idiocy in the last administration and Greenspan.

The real problem is not in how to manage this problem, but that the entire Global Monetary system is based on a big ponzi scheme. Geithner is perfect for the job because he is fully immersed in both the domestic banking scam (the Fed) and the international ones (LIBOR, CDOs, IMF, World Bank). So if anyone can manage this scam effectively it is likely Geithner.

The real issue here is why not how. The politicians and media who are usually obsessed with why have basically done everything in their power to ignore this question in its entirety - for good reason. No one wants to discuss how money is created, why our government who has the only authority to create money "borrows" it from a cartel of private banks, why commercial banks are able to suspend legal and moral jurisprudence and create money at will with virtually no oversight.

The problem is that in an economy centered squarely around money, this level of manipulation and control by a small elite of private individuals affects complete control. This is not, as we've been told, an American problem - it is a Global Problem. Thats why bankers of Geithner's pedigree do time at the IMF and World Bank - the entire world is controlled by a small group of bankers who literally "set" the price and supply of money (for the benefit of themselves of course) for virtually everyone on earth!!!

You don't like taxes - blame the bankers, its their "interest" on loans to government (on money the government lets them create for free) that is the root cause of taxes. Don't like housing prices - they are determined by the supply and price of money. Cars, utilities, food, imports, exports, your salary, your pension .....

The single most important factor in controlling our economic lives is monetary policy. Most of us believe that this is controlled by politicians and bureacrats - the truth is that the money supplies are controlled by private banks, and allways have been. Why?? profit - banks make money because they create money to lend to you. The government need money too. They could issue money, but in the past, people didn't trust government issued money - the stuff from the bank had more value. So banks lent the money to the government, and the government agreed to "back up" the bank issued money as "legal tender".

The best part is how these loans led to taxes. Bankers don't lend money to people without income. How does a government generate income - taxes!! Almost every implementation of a central bank coincides with a massive ramp up in taxes.

So why don't we just get the government to start issuing money again and cut out the banks? They would print money to pay off all the debts, we would create money to pay for services, etc.

The first answer is that the banks would oppose this, since it would destroy their business model. This would cause (and did cause in the 1830's) a depression. Secondly, even if we dealt with this problem, giving the government the ability to print money anytime for any reason would lead to inflation, pandering, corruption .... Finally, how about all the people who rely on "interest" for income. Pensions, wealthy people, etc.

The solution is difficult. The cost of controlling government waste (which the current system has not halted anyway) and inflation (banks themselves are now the major source of inflation) are frankly far too high under this system. The single largest expense for the average American now is aggregated cost of interest which uses up between 65 - 85% or your families income. Can't we figure out a better way to manage the economy than this?

Even the Dems want him gone.

says who? the Republicans? LOL!!!

Geithner is doing what is necessary and getting good results. Looks like the Repubs/conservs can't stand that it is working.

chuck, exactly how is it working? We are making the money or printing it...money we don't have - it is ONLY PAPER! It's like a kid who plays monopoly and runs out of money and just writes any amount down on paper and continues to play. He has alreay LOST by virtue of being out of money. That is where we ARE.

Do you guys not understand whats gone on here. The banks "failed", the government ran around like a headless chicken and borrowed a few Trillion from the "banks" to bail them out. The banks got "free money" from the Fed (which they own and control) to the tune of 10 Trillion whioch they don't want to disclose to us, and everything's fine again.

The problem is simple - we have given to the Fed and the Banks (the same clowns who made this disaster to begin with) absolute power to create money for the USA - the Government can't do it, you can't do it - that's called counterfeiting - but your local banker can and does every day!!!

Why?? good question. Did they really need the "TARP" money? No. Tarp was about getting the government to guarentee all their bad debts, and creating new debt for the tax payor, it had nothing to do with "saving" the banks. The Fed could have (and did) bail out its member/owners with no oversight, no approval, not interest or debt. This was all a scam to get you to take "responsibility" for Bank and securities fraud.

Most banks didn't want that money to begin with, and it is a complete LIE to suggest that it is "free money."

you clearly have no understanding of how banks work. money from the fed, or created via the clearing and fractional reserve system is "free" - is no cost. All the money they lend out is created at no cost to them and lent out at interest. Creation of money by private commercial banks represents between 90 - 95% on the total M3 money supply - so who is lying. Banks have NO MONEY, no RESERVES, virtually no ASSETS or COLLATERAL to back up any of their loans, and this is the reason for the Central bank - the "lender of last resort".

So I will state this again, there is not a bank in the USA that can withstand even a moderate run on its deposits without failing immediately. Fox news may tell you that they "don't need" money, and that is true - they create money, they get it from the FED - what they all did need was a way to get rid of all the bad debt. This is an accounting problem because its not like they ever had any of the money they lent out to begin with, they created it. What they have done with the TARP and other "programs" is solve the accounting problem by getting the government to guarentee the money. Once the guarentee was in place, they don't need the "bailout" money anymore, they just sell off the "guarenteed" bad debt at "market" - so who's telling the lies??? you just bought all the bad mortgages and traded bailout debt for worthless debt - what a great deal!!

LOL what a load. My husband is a high level executive of a major US Bank that didn't WANT the tarp. He just read your post and we are both cracking up. Too bad I don't have a moment to tear you a new one, but its cocktail hour.

Thats perfect. So let me ask you and your husband to explain how banks work, since you guys are experts.

1. Fractional reserve banking is based on "creation of money" based on a leverage ratio of say (if we are lucky) 7% or so. The sole cost of "creating" money is the cost of "interest" paid on the deposits.

2. Banks accounting procedures are based on this "creation" model, where the leverage ratio and key measure of lack of stability of the banks finances are buried in the " notes" of the statements. Since banks gnerally comingle actual "assets" with created money it is virtually impossible to determine what the actual financial position of any of the major banks is. All the bad loans need to be written off the books somehow, and the government guarentees allow it to happen without cost to them.

3. There are no major US Banks that in October had a leverage ration of higher than 10%, meaning that they had "created" 10 dollars for every dollar on deposit. Therefore, not a single major bank could withstand a run on 35% of it deposits and be solvent.

4. Finally, there are several recorded hearing involving senior executives from the FED requesting inforamtion on monies distributed to banks directly without disclosure. The FED steadfastly refuses to discluose where the money has gone. These are part of the public record.

5. While some banks had less exposure to MBS/ABS risk than others, the ridiculous claim that any major US banks were not in significant risk in November 2008 is a joke. As noted, Wells Fargo, the main practitioner of this nonsense would have fared no better than any other had nothing been done. The purpose of TARP was to "show" that we could "trust" the banks. To claim they didn't need the money is mainly revisionist history since there were no runs on major banks.

Having worked in many banks and investment houses, the fact that you or your husband are "senior managment" at a bank doesn't mean much to me. Banks seek out people who are compliant and don't really want to understand how thing work anyway. The biggest single danger to the Average American is not Al Queda, Chinese factories or Gay marriage, it is Banks and Bankers. So go ahead and tear me a new one if you can find time between cocktails and the country club!!!

I hear you. Our government oozes of corruption at every level. It's certainly the self-servers vs the voters these days.

LMAO meagan! :]

You missed several key parts of the scam.

1. Bank financial statements are not worth the papaer they are written on. How else do you explain the lasty 12 months - no one knew, next they are bankrupt, now we are fine again ..... Let's not even get into all the "off balance sheet" nonsense these degenerates taught the guys at Enron etc .... Finally we have the Fed who acknowledge that they have at least 10 Trillion unaccounted for in their "financial statements"???? Now I wish the banks were so cavalier with my visa accounting ....

2. Banks don't need TARP, they want TARP. The various FEDs can create money to give the banks any time they want. There is no oversight, no accounting, no rules - it is purely subjective and secretive. The entire TARP scam was a proecess of laundering the fraudulent MBS/ABS securities which they had sold fraudulently to investors. Just like a drug dealer, they needed a way to clean these ill begotten gains - viola, a government guarentee program!! Not a single prosecution related to the creation, sale, representation, rating of these assets?? The "authorities" have no problem prosecuting guys who lie on their loan applications, don't report when banks make an error, etc... but the biggest fraud ever - no interest.

3. The massive monetary stimulus will create a huge double dip recession here and result in the formation of a "underclass". Banks are already using this "responsibility" nonsense to increase their control over your life through credit reporting, legal pressure, and "identity theft"/fraud scare tactics. Those with poor credit will become a permanent under class who are unable to work, find a place to live, feed themselves, harrasssed by law enforcement - never able to join soceity. This is the bank plan, segmentation based on credit worthiness (an arbitrary and subjective measure at best, completely outside of governement control and usually wrong) all bvased on their irresponsibility - talk about irony!!

LOL!!