Treasury Secretary Tim 1040 Geithner has his secretarial undies in a bundle regarding risk-taking on Wall Street. Without going into all the boring details, let’s just say he is against it. Or at least his boss is against it and he, being the good soldier, is taking on the yoke of this remarkably socialistic plan as his own.

Geithner is calling for sweeping government regulations and increased governmental oversight of the risk taken by private sector financial businesses by the most inept financial minds on the planet, the US Congress.

It was of course under the Democratic direction and weak kneed Republican opposition of Congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were summarily tasked with undertaking enormous risk in the low income and subprime mortgage markets. When this house of cards eventually met its inevitable collapse under the weight of increased defaults of these welfare mortgages, causing real estate values to plunge and mortgage bonds to become worthless, the whole world felt the pain of congressional incompetence.

Wall Street certainly carries some of the blame for getting caught with their pin striped pants down. But only for not adequately forecasting the effect this governmental folly would have. It is however important to remember that for every loser on Wall Street betting the housing market would continue to go up, there was a winner betting the other side. The recent government bailouts were so the losers could pay the winners. To state now, as they are, that all of Wall Street was wrong and in need of government guidance is as false as the supposition that it was Wall Street greed and not congressional incompetence that led to the whole collapse in the first place.

Secretary Geithner’s newfound aversion to risk is so profound it’s a shame he doesn’t have a position in the National Security Administration or the CIA. As Tim 1040 continues to tatter his tunic about reducing financial risk on Wall Street the real risks to America’s safety and security continues to increase by land and air unabated.

Both funding and political resolve for increased protections along the US – Mexico border are slowly eroding. Even as the FBI publishes their investigative reports showing a dramatic increase in drug cartel armies invading border towns on a murderous rampage, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lays blame on American drug users rather than Mexican drug kingpins. American intelligence estimates that the Mexican drug cartel armies are equal in numbers to the entire Mexican military.

In the United States drug dealing street gangs comprised mostly of illegal Mexicans aliens have increased at a record pace in the last 3 years. Gang activity has risen over 35% in the last two years and their reach into the United States has expanded over 14%. It is estimated that in areas comprised predominantly of Hispanics nearly 60% of all gang members are illegal aliens. The Salvadorian gang MS-13 has spread throughout the United States. The FBI’s MS-13 Gang Task Force chief Aaron Escorza reported that because of the “revolving door” on the border, membership of MS-13 gang members remains at about 10,000, even as illegal alien members are deported new illegal aliens take their place. And still congress debates the need for increased security along the Mexican border.

In the sky, President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program designed to allow commercial airline pilots to carry firearms.

Earlier in March the president diverted some $2 million in funding from the pilot training program. Since pilots were allowed to carry firearms after the 9-11 attacks there has not been one instance of improper use of a firearm by a pilot. Complaints received involved less the 1% of the overall officers in the program and all have been disproved. There have also not been any additional hijack attempts. Do you suppose that is by coincidence?

70% of all commercial pilots have a military background. Yet the approval process to allow more pilots carry a firearm has come to a halt without explanation.

While the Obama administration tries to reduce risk on Wall Street the risk on Main Street is real and growing.

I wonder if this Nero knows how to fiddle.

After a solid month of vitriol being spewed from every corner of Washington DC in the direction of Wall Street the Treasury Secretary is about to unveil his long awaited plan to rid the credit markets of the toxic waste clogging every financial institution’s aorta.

Congress has successfully misdirected the public’s rage toward Wall Street in order to keep their own actions from gathering too much unwanted attention. The congressionally orchestrated fury has reached such a fever pitch that AIG is warning their employees to not display their company name badges in public lest they risk a confrontation and the possibility of physical harm.

Even though voters are mad as hell with the recent spending binge and deficits this congress has seen fit to heap on the backs of the next 3 or 4 generations of taxpayers, most of the public still believes that the economic collapse was caused by greed on Wall Street. Very few are looking at the actions of congress that led us to the brink of national bankruptcy, but instead are listening to their rhetoric and that of the lapdog media which repeatedly places the onus on unscrupulous Wall Street investors taking too much risk and making too much money.

It is before a backdrop of increased governmental restrictions and oversight of investor risk and rewards that Tim 1040 Geithner steps before the microphone to finally announce the details of his toxic asset removal plan. Geithner made a hugely promoted statement several weeks ago that was as thin on details as it was bloated on rhetoric. Stock market investors reacted immediately to this muddled attempt by dumping investments and sending the market into a tailspin.

The new announcement will likely be stronger on details as it would be impossible to have fewer, but it is anticipated the new plan will rely heavily on the same investors that congress has been demonizing for the past several months.

With the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office announcing their projection of national budget deficits in excess of $9.3 trillion dollars over the next ten years, and congress showing no signs of reining in their outrageous spending binge, investors may be less than eager to participate.

It is clear that the single most important action congress can take in stabilizing the credit markets is to remove the toxic assets they created with their misguided attempt to alter credit reality through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But now looking to the same investors whose compensation they have capped, whose bonuses they have unconstitutionally taxed out of existence and whose methods and motives they have duplicitously and fallaciously vilified, to make the plan work would be almost comical if it weren’t so sad.

There is no incentive for major investors to get involved in a program of high risk without having at least some ability to project a suitable return. The Democratically controlled House and Senate have shown that they have no hesitation at changing the rules in the middle of the game. There is no reason to believe that they will not do the same here if public sentiment becomes negative toward those who could actually make money out of this mess. With deficit spending and budget shortfalls in the trillions of dollars it seems a much safer investment to bet against the US dollar than to invest in it.

That is of course if anything could be considered a safer bet in the “Who’s on first” routine this administration and congress are currently playing.

I’m sorry, so sorry. Please accept my apology. But love was blind. And I was too blind to see……..

The song is an absolute classic, as are most of the songs sung by sultry Ms. Lee. But it was being sung today before the Senate Finance Committee by a much less sultry Timothy Geithner. The committee is tasked with approving Geithner as the new president’s pick to head the Treasury Department.

After it was discovered that Diamond Tim had previously been caught by the IRS for failure to report income on his income taxes, it was also discovered that he was in default for the exact same offense for years not previously audited. Senate Democrats applauded Geithner’s remorseful apology, but seriously what the hell else could the man do.

His apology was only half hearted at best in that it was more of an excuse than an apology. “These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes, but they were unintentional” said he. It makes me wonder if the careless part to which he referred was in not reporting the income or in getting caught. Either way he is correct on two of the three premises. They were careless and they were avoidable, but it defies explanation in calling them mistakes and he is being blatantly dishonest in saying they were unintentional.

Geithner is a really bright guy, having served on the board of the International Monetary Fund as well as working on Wall Street for a number of years. Once the IRS caught him the first time one would think a bright guy like that would have been able to figure out he needed to amend his previous returns with the same fraudulent income numbers.

This leads to a third possibility of the excuse/apology he rendered onto this kangaroo court. Perhaps what he was saying was he was sorry that he wasn’t able to foretell that he would be picked for a high government office so he figured it would be better to keep his mouth shut rather than opening a new can of penalty laden worms. Actually, had he said that I would have dropped all opposition to him just for showing he had the ability to be genuinely honest.

If he is confirmed, as it appears he most certainly will be, he will be in charge of the IRS. I wonder if he will institute a new policy by which anybody caught intentionally cheating on their taxes will be given the opportunity to refer to the previously federal offense as a mistake, make a genuinely disingenuous apology and move on with their life.

I am not naïve enough to believe that what Diamond Tim did was unusual by the standards of most wealthy individuals. I would venture to guess that many Wall Street executives could get an annual Pulitzer Prize for creative writing on their tax returns. What irks me far more than the offense itself is the constant insistence that Geithner and Geithner alone is just what the doctor ordered for the ailing economy. Republican Senator Grassley said he recognized that Democrats viewed Geithner as “possibly the only man for the job of healing the recession before us and a very fractured economy.”

To be sure he has the necessary experience and reputation to lead the Treasury Department through the rough waters the new president spoke of in his inauguration address. But he is not the only guy on Wall Street so equipped. There are a bevy of capable, experienced and well respected money men who could take this position and do an excellent job without the distraction of having been criminally negligent in personally maintaining the laws they will now be tasked with enforcing.

My question is why Geithner? Why not dump him as damaged goods and move on to a new pick?

Could it be that Geithner is one of the few guys qualified to head the Treasury that will publicly support the Democrats plan of throwing billions of tax dollars at politically motivated projects that will have very effect at actually bolstering the economy?

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released their report today projecting less than half of the $355 billion that House Democrats want to spend on highways, bridges and other supposed job-creating investments is likely to be used before the end of fiscal 2010. The CBO went on to say that the balance would likely be spent over the next several years, long after the recession is projected to end.

Maybe Geithner is the perfect guy for the job. He was able to tell the confirmation committee that his offenses were unintentional mistakes and keep a straight face. That’s just the kind of guy needed to sell this bogus political stimulus package to the American public.

Kind of reminds me of someone else. You know, that married guy that didn’t have sex with that woman.

I wonder what ever happened to him.