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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew did not find a warm welcome this weekend at the Jerusalem Post's annual conference in New York. As the Treasury official spoke Sunday on the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran over a possible nuclear deal, he drew loud boos from the event's many attendees. Lew stated that the Obama administration has always been dedicated to the goal of making sure Iran doesn't obtain a nuclear weapon, adding also that the White House has taken steps to ensure this. "Because of the aggressive sanctions that have been put in place for over a decade, Iran has been...

Well, it's bad news for Danny Glover and MoveOn, anyway. They started a grassroots movement to get the New York Times columnist an appointment to Barack Obama's Cabinet in replacement of the departing Tim Geithner. MoveOn even sent a petition request to its large e-mail list, demanding a Paul Krugman nomination: Hollywood actor and liberal activist Danny Glover is trying to send a message to President Barack Obama: “Nominate Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary.”Obama has yet to tap anyone to fill the slot, soon to be left vacant by outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. On Sunday the liberal advocacy group...

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on CNN.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and his department have been sued by Judicial Watch as a result of the government's abject failure to abide by the law, specifically the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), concerning the Toxic Assets Relief Program and Obama administration "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg. Last November, Judidial Watch submitted an FOIA request multiple documents concerning meetings involving Feinberg, special master for executive compensation under TARP; AIG Chairman Robert Benmosche, and New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley. As the Obama administration’s “pay czar,” Feinberg is responsible for setting compensation guidelines for the seven largest firms, including AIG,...

By the end of March, Barack Obama's administration will face its destiny, its Brutus a pawn of the fates. In Jimmy Carter's presidency, the Wall Street Journal editorialized about "Ratcheting to Ruin." The title derived from the fact that each cycle high in unemployment was higher than previous ones, and each cycle high in inflation was also. "Stagflation" was the neologism coined to describe what up until then was believed to be impossible in the Keynesian world. This period ushered in a new era in both politics and economics. Carter was replaced by Reagan, and Keynes was replaced by Friedman. Thirty...

What Does Senator Bunning Know, And, More Relevantly, What Does The Just Disclosed Fed Whistleblower Know? Tyler Durden on 01/26/2010 19:59 -0500 First, watch the below video. Note Senator Bunning's agreement with Zero Hedge on who the proposed head of the Fed should be (i.e., John Taylor). But that's irrelevant. What is - at 5:40 Bunning says that "Geithner will be fired by the President for his inability to handle his job as Secretary of the Treasury." True. What is even more relevant, and hints at a potential smoking gun, begins at 8:00 "[Bernanke's] staff did not agree with him...

The House Oversight and Government Reform committee this week received a list that will capture eyes from Wall Street to Washington. Timothy Geithner’s call log during the tightest grips of the financial crisis show the then-New York Federal Reserve Board chairman made calls calls to U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Obama transition adviser Lee Sachs and Warren Buffet. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and former Lehman Bros. CEO Dick Fuld also spoke with Geithner. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke got calls, as...

President Barack Obama has proposed a new tax on large financial institutions as a method to fully recover all of the TARP funds which the federal government has doled out since late 2008. In announcing this proposed tax, Obama made the emphatic statement, “We want our money back and we’re going to get it.” The obvious absurdity, if not hypocrisy, of Obama’s statement and this new tax proposal is that most of the very companies targeted by the tax have already repaid all of their TARP funds. One big exception to that rule is AIG, which essentially has no chance...

The Obama administration's decision to cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years stirred controversy over the holiday. The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each. Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was "necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market," the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since...

The Obama administration's decision to cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years stirred controversy over the holiday. The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each. Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was "necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market," the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since...

Fannie / Freddie - What Does Treasury Know? by: Karl DenningerDecember 25, 2009 On Christmas Eve one would think you could have a nice evening with your family. Little did I know what Timmy Geithner had up his sleeve: The two companies, the largest sources of mortgage financing in the U.S., are currently under government conservatorship and have caps of $200 billion each on backstop capital from the Treasury. Under the new agreement announced today, these limits can rise as needed to cover net worth losses through 2012. I see. But I thought housing was getting better? That's what I...

I have said before, I think it will be pretty difficult to replace Geithner, but now we have President Obama's "favorite banker" being named as a possible replacement. NyPo reports As support for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wanes on Capitol Hill amid frustration with the Obama administration's handling of the economy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is emerging as a potential replacement. Sources tell The Post that a number of policy makers have begun mentioning Dimon as a successor to Geithner, whose standing in Washington has suffered because of the country's high unemployment rate, the weakness of the dollar, the...

What was expected to be a boring congressional hearing erupted into high drama yesterday as an unnerved Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sparred with frustrated lawmakers calling for his head over his handling of the economy. Clearly rattled by a fusillade of attacks from Republican members of the Joint Economic Committee, the usually reserved Geithner lashed out, laying blame for the current economic mess at the feet of the GOP and rejecting suggestions that he resign. Republicans "gave this president an economy falling off the cliff," Geithner fired back at Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), one of the Treasury secretary's harshest critics...

Special Inspector General for TARP (aka "SIG TARP") Neil Barofsky said something we've all known for a while: the government gave away the farm when AIG failed. If you recall, AIG's failure meant that the companies on the other side of all of its contracts (counterparties) were going to be left holding the bag. Under normal cases of bankruptcy, the court would impose haircuts to the amount of money due to counterparties, but because AIG didn't actually declare bankruptcy, the counterparties claimed that they were owed 100 cents of every dollar. The only bank that even considered taking a haircut...

Per: Peter Barnes of Fox News!

Barofsky, reviewing the first big bailouts to 9 firms, concludes that the government was too rosy to the public about the banks' health. WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- A government watchdog says federal officials weren't entirely honest with the public about the health of the first 9 financial firms that got federal bailouts, according to a report released Monday. Bailout special inspector general Neil Barofsky says in an audit that Treasury Department officials painted an overly rosy picture, creating "unrealistic expectations," when they called the first bailout banks "healthy" institutions that would be able to lend more with government help. "It is...

The financial system and economy are coming back to life. So who's going to pay TARP back and who isn't? As the first anniversary of the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program approaches, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has a lot to be happy about. Thursday, facing the congressional panel charged with overseeing the TARP funds, Geithner reminded them that when he took office, the Treasury had given $240 billion to banks. Since then, $70 billion has come back as the healthiest banks have begun to repay taxpayers. He estimates banks will repay another $50 billion over the next 12...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner offered a spirited defense of the government's efforts to forestall another Great Depression but cautioned that the recovery would be slow and painful. "We understood how bad this was—how damaging this was—and we did things that people were incredibly critical of because we knew that this was getting away from us," Geithner told a special CNBC town hall meeting Thursday. In the wide-ranging session, which took place nearly a year to the day after the failure of Lehman Brothers and the implosion of the nation's financial system, Geithner said the country needs not only to fix...

The Obama administration's first progress report on its foreclosure prevention plan confirms it is off to a slow start. Just 9% of delinquent borrowers in trial modifications so far, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. That translates into 235,247 loans that were at least two months delinquent. Under fire for the program's rocky start, the Obama administration says it is on pace to help up to four million homeowners over the next three years. The initiative was announced in February and the first institutions to join began accepting applications in April.

To get the economy back on track, will President Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans? In a “This Week” exclusive, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me, "We’re going to have to do what’s necessary.” Geithner was clear that he believes a key component of economic recovery is deficit reduction. When I gave him several opportunities to rule out a middle class tax hike, he wouldn’t do it. “We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” Geithner told me. “And that’s going to require some very hard choices.”