Geithner Goes Over the Edge

Townhall.com ^ | April 28, 2012 | Larry Kudlow

[Kaslin]

Is Tim Geithner the most politically partisan treasury secretary in history? Certainly sounds like it these days. As the government’s chief financial officer, he’s spending a lot of time firing campaign barbs at various Republicans and their policies.

 

Geithner has blasted Mitt Romney by name on several occasions. He frequently attacks Representative Paul Ryan and the GOP budget. And he recently fired a broadside at top-Romney economist Glenn Hubbard, who is presently dean of the Colombia Business School.

 

Responding to a Hubbard op-ed in the Wall Street Journal -- which calculated that the president’s spending plans would require an 11 percent tax increase on people earning less than $200,000 a year -- Geithner said, “That’s a completely made-up, remarkably hackish observation for an economist.”

 

Hubbard a hack?

 

Besides running a highly respected Ivy League business school, he was the chairman of President George W. Bush’s council of economic advisors. He also earned his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.  

 

But Hubbard is advising Romney, and before that he counseled Bush, so the very political Mr. Geithner blasted him as a hack.

 

By the way, all Hubbard did was calculate that even after all of Obama’s proposed tax hikes on millionaires, investors, and upper-end business people, revenues would rise by about $150 billion a year. But Obama’s budget schedules spending to rise by $500 billion a year. So Hubbard concluded that an across-the-board tax hike of 11 percent for everybody -- including below-$200,000 earners -- would be required.

 

You can disagree with Hubbard’s point, but the arithmetic gap between spending and revenues per year is unmistakable. It’s not a hackish statement. It’s merely an informed opinion.

 

And let’s face it: A condescending put down by Mr. Geithner is a political statement.

 

Now let me pause here. I know Tim Geithner personally, and I like him. Always have. While I disagree with him on many issues, we have good relations. But treasury secretaries are not supposed to be political partisans. That does not come with the territory.

 

The statesmen-like, high-office cabinet departments like defense, state, and treasury are typically managed in relatively nonpartisan ways simply because the nation’s finances and security require bipartisan efforts. Policy disagreements? Yes. Name calling? No. I would add the Justice Department, but unfortunately Eric Holder has been incredibly partisan on Fast and Furious and other issues.

 

But to go back to Tim Geithner, he’s going to have to negotiate another debt-ceiling bill at the end of the year, and he’s going to need Republican support to get it done. The same is true for the coming tax cliff, where all the Bush-era tax cuts expire. Geithner will need Republican support there, too.

 

And on matters like the IMF, the World Bank, the dollar, and other international financial issues, there may be policy differences, but treasury secretaries are supposed to work with both sides of the aisle.

 

You could think back to Republican treasury man Hank Paulson during the financial meltdown. He desperately sought bipartisan support. You can even go way back to Republican James Baker, who was a tough political fighter as Ronald Reagan’s first-term chief of staff. But when Baker became treasury secretary, he took his political hat off and negotiated a bipartisan tax-reform bill. And I don’t recall Clinton treasury secretary Robert Rubin blasting Republicans by name.

 

The point is, my friend Tim Geithner has gone over the edge, and he oughta pull back . Let President Obama and his campaign team handle the politics. That’s the way it works. The Treasury Department is not supposed to be a campaign arm. The U.S. has enormous financial vulnerabilities. And it seems to me that Mr. Geithner could use all the help he can get, even while he pushes the administration’s policy agenda.

 

Name-calling and direct insults won’t do it.

 

Meanwhile, on the economy, a little humility is in order. The latest GDP report came in at a disappointing 2.2 percent, about a half-point below expectations and weaker than the 3 percent fourth-quarter number. There may be an economic stall that will also stall President Obama’s reelection.

 

Weekly jobless claims in April are running 20,000 ahead of March. That might mean next week’s employment report will be another disappointment. And over the eleven quarters of the Obama recovery, real GDP has averaged only 2.4 percent. Compare that to the postwar average of 4.5 percent, and the tax-cutting Reagan recovery of 6.1 percent.

 

So when Mitt Romney says, “It’s still about the economy, and we’re not stupid,” he’s got a powerful point. But it’s a point that needs to be answered by President Obama, not his treasury man.

 

The rich tradition of American-government history teaches that the head of the venerable old Treasury Department should not be the campaigner in chief.

[exit82]

Geithner: a small man in a big job.

Like most of the O Administration.

[glennaro]

the head of the venerable old Treasury Department should not be the campaigner in chief

True ... but Obama doesn't have any idea what to say or do as everything -- everthing -- the infirmative-action president has tried economically has hurt Americans and has failed... as socialism always does.

[SMM48]

How is this guy even relevant? He’s a cocky little SOB. Let’s not forget his Turbo Tax fiasco which was well known before he was confirmed. How many Republicans voted to confirm him?

[Lurker]

I’ve pretty much had it with this “I knw the guy and I like him” crap. This man Geithner is actively doing things that are harming the United States of America. The author acknowledges that.

How is it possible to like someone who is harming millions of your fellow Americans? I can’t do it. I wouldn’t want to even if I could.

[originalbuckeye]

Is EVERY Obama Cabinet Secretary the most politically partisan Secretary we have ever had the misfortune to encounter? YES!

[depressed in 06]

Is Tim Geithner the most politically partisan treasury secretary in history?

"Politically partisan" is not an acceptable euphemism for incompetent.

[Mouton]

Don’t over look that before he was in his current role, he was the head of the NY Fed. Clearly in every expose of the bank bailouts, he was shown to be the major player in funneling money to the banks “to keep them solvent”. Now then, if Tiny Tim knew they were so insolvent while he was in charge of the central system in banking, how is it he was uninformed about how bad the situation was before he was brought in? The simple answer is not only informed but a coconspirator.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

You can disagree with Hubbard’s point, but the arithmetic gap between spending and revenues per year is unmistakable. It’s not a hackish statement. It’s merely an informed opinion.

Actually, it's basic math, which, as we all know, isn't Little Timmy's strong suit.

[EGPWS]

How is this guy even relevant?

How can success be argued about?

After all, as 0bama has stated several times, without the likes of Turbo Timmy, our situation would be sooooo much worse, why even though things are bad, without Turbo Tim at the financial helm of the cabinet, we would be even more broke without him.

All in all, Turbo Tim is our savior if looked at with delusional perspective.

[Truth29]

Kudlow needs to see the forest rather than the trees. The Obama Administration cares not a wit about the rich history of American government history. If there is another crisis over the debt ceiling negotiations and more disunity and disruption, that would be great. The country is being run by people who want to burn her down.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

The only way I could despise Tim Geithner any more would be if he changed his name to Eric Holder.

[originalbuckeye]

Corker, Cornyn, Crapo, Graham, Gregg, Shelby, Snowe and Voinivich.

That's the list of doofuses. And some are still in the Senate. Some Dems didn't even vote to confirm!

[RatRipper]

So Hubbard is a “hack” and Geithner isn’t . . . .

These people are so dense, shallow, hypocritical and pre-programmed they make my head hurt and my belly ache. I am soooooo sick of these people I could scream!!!!

[Son House]

Tim Geithner won’t see the Democrat Economic Plan hasn’t worked, and isn’t going to work, but the Federal Reserve policymakers do.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fed-economy-growing-moderately-policy-16211490?page=2#.T5wDB1LDs0Q

“However, the Fed is forecasting slower growth in 2013 and 2014.”

[GoldenPup]

Geithner Goes Over the Edge

Wonder if this little, bed wetting, panty-waiste, turd ever payed up all his back taxes?

[bboop]

‘he oughta pull back’ — Gad, I truly hate ‘oughta’ and ‘shoulda’ and ‘gonna’ in something that proposes to be good writing. It’s like having a gum-snapping teenager sitting in the next chair.

Can we just use appropriate English?? Or is mediocrity just so IN these days?

[DuncanWaring]

The Won wouldn’t have nominated Geithner to be Treasury Secretary if Geithner weren’t dedicated to the destruction of this country.

That’s all Kudlow needs to know.

Once he knows that, everything Geithner does makes perfect sense.

[Vaduz]

Across-the-board tax hike of 11 percent for everybody,expected.

[hinckley buzzard]

The point is, my friend Tim Geithner has gone over the edge, and he oughta pull back

This guy needs a better class of friend. Show a little discriminatory judgment.