GEITHNER: USEFUL STOOGE?

This Slate article on Treasury Secretary Tim Geither is brutal. Former NY governor Eliot Spitzer all but calls Geithner the banking industry's useful stooge. I don't know why he held back.

Here's what he has to say about the NY Federal Reserve under Tim Geithner's leadership during the 2008 crisis.

The New York Fed [under Geithner] didn't have the backbone to stand up to Wall Street, didn't understand its capacity to protect taxpayers, and didn't appreciate that its responsibility was to taxpayers.

Spitzer finished the article with this: "He doesn't know how to negotiate, doesn't understand what cards he holds, and doesn't understand the need for fundamental reform." Ouch. This, my friends, helps to explain how the American taxpayer got stuck with the trillion dollar bailout bill.

Read the article. It doesn't explain why Wall Street screwed America. We already know why. Wall Street is full of greedy unethical chumps. Instead it explains how it happened ... with a wink and a nod from the very people who are supposed to protect the American taxpayer. Simply put, Tim Geithner became Wall Street's useful stooge.

- Mark