Geithner Interview with Jim Lehrer - More Crony Capitalism
The link above contains both the text and a video. It's rather lengthy at about 17 minutes. ie, There is some substance to the interview.
I have expressed my concern that Geithner was not an appropriate pick for Treasury Secretary given his prior job was the chief regulator of Wall Street. He presided over the largest regulatory failure in history and was rewarded for it. Is that democracy? Or is that cronyism? If the media were doing its job and informing the American people, as it is constitutionally protected to ensure this role is achieved, what chance would Geithner have at being elected as Treasury Secretary? Just about zero. That said, I wish Geithner well because society's success is tied to his success.
My take is the interview is big hat, no cattle. It's the same general policy as the prior administration. A policy the market is telling us is a failure.
I want to digress a bit since this discussion of a public-private partnership, as it is being framed by Treasury, is now front and center. Public-private partnerships are another example of crony capitalism. This is not "letting the market work". Or, market-based capitalism. We haven't talked about public-private partnerships but we can now overview the concept. Public-private partnerships are really nothing more than selling off traditionally public responsibilities into private hands. Partnership makes it sound more palatable. But the reality is it is a transfer of wealth from the public into the hands of a chosen few. It is secret code for stealing from society. You own(ed) these properties. Did you get a profit check when any public properties were sold to the private sector? Governments around the world have been selling off assets that are paid for and are owned by the public. And, then allow businesses to do what they will by soaking the public for these facilities or profiting from them. Did the public vote approve these asset sales? The ideas to privatize are a function of crony relationships and their implementation is to burden those who can least afford higher and higher fees while a small few accumulate greater wealth. This has been happening a lot in developing countries where political favors, pressures from major political powers and indebtedness to major political powers drives these deals. You might often call them extortion. The end result is that major global monopolies are often granted contracts for basic necessities of a particular country. A prime example has been to provide clean water at extortionary rates.
If this concept is applied to any bank bailout, as is being bandied about, it will allow Treasury to sell assets, likely priced well below market value, to private equity and hedge funds that have the potential to make massive riches at society's expense. And, private equity is a primary example of crony capitalism. We've written an extensive post on this fact and I'll probably be posting futher remarks since I believe there is a very reasonable chance that many forms, if not all of private equity will literally cease to exist in the future.
In basic terms, cronyism allowed the banksters to steal wealth from society and a solution using a public-private partnership would allow the same crony financial structure to rob society again as a fundamental solution to the banking crisis. In other words, cronyism made the mess, stuck society with the bill and ultimately made off with even more money by buying back the assets they dumped onto society at bargain basement prices. Sounds like the perfect racket to me.
I don't think the American people voted in a new political leadership for more of the same. To date, that is what Geithner is giving us.
I have expressed my concern that Geithner was not an appropriate pick for Treasury Secretary given his prior job was the chief regulator of Wall Street. He presided over the largest regulatory failure in history and was rewarded for it. Is that democracy? Or is that cronyism? If the media were doing its job and informing the American people, as it is constitutionally protected to ensure this role is achieved, what chance would Geithner have at being elected as Treasury Secretary? Just about zero. That said, I wish Geithner well because society's success is tied to his success.
My take is the interview is big hat, no cattle. It's the same general policy as the prior administration. A policy the market is telling us is a failure.
I want to digress a bit since this discussion of a public-private partnership, as it is being framed by Treasury, is now front and center. Public-private partnerships are another example of crony capitalism. This is not "letting the market work". Or, market-based capitalism. We haven't talked about public-private partnerships but we can now overview the concept. Public-private partnerships are really nothing more than selling off traditionally public responsibilities into private hands. Partnership makes it sound more palatable. But the reality is it is a transfer of wealth from the public into the hands of a chosen few. It is secret code for stealing from society. You own(ed) these properties. Did you get a profit check when any public properties were sold to the private sector? Governments around the world have been selling off assets that are paid for and are owned by the public. And, then allow businesses to do what they will by soaking the public for these facilities or profiting from them. Did the public vote approve these asset sales? The ideas to privatize are a function of crony relationships and their implementation is to burden those who can least afford higher and higher fees while a small few accumulate greater wealth. This has been happening a lot in developing countries where political favors, pressures from major political powers and indebtedness to major political powers drives these deals. You might often call them extortion. The end result is that major global monopolies are often granted contracts for basic necessities of a particular country. A prime example has been to provide clean water at extortionary rates.
If this concept is applied to any bank bailout, as is being bandied about, it will allow Treasury to sell assets, likely priced well below market value, to private equity and hedge funds that have the potential to make massive riches at society's expense. And, private equity is a primary example of crony capitalism. We've written an extensive post on this fact and I'll probably be posting futher remarks since I believe there is a very reasonable chance that many forms, if not all of private equity will literally cease to exist in the future.
In basic terms, cronyism allowed the banksters to steal wealth from society and a solution using a public-private partnership would allow the same crony financial structure to rob society again as a fundamental solution to the banking crisis. In other words, cronyism made the mess, stuck society with the bill and ultimately made off with even more money by buying back the assets they dumped onto society at bargain basement prices. Sounds like the perfect racket to me.
I don't think the American people voted in a new political leadership for more of the same. To date, that is what Geithner is giving us.
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