Geithner (and Bernanke)- complicit, incompetant, or scapegoats?

SecTreas defends AIG bailout

he took "full responsibility, and great pride" in his decisions, including a controversial one to pay banks in full on contracts they had with the insurer.

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Even though many junior staffers claimed at the time that the same could have been accomplished by paying less than face value for the contracts, since they were essentially worthless. And they were rebuffed or ignored by Bernanke and or Geithner.

members of both parties lambasted Mr. Geithner and his former employer, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, for giving banks a "piggybank full of taxpayer dollars" and then adopting an "absolute code of silence" in resisting disclosure of the transactions.

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Something that Rs and Ds are managing to agree on these days - this was poorly done, even in haste. These were not loans, these were outright gifts. The shuffled paperwork and convolution of it all doesn't smell like a deal that's on the up-and-up.

Mr. Geithner repeatedly characterized the government's choices in the giant insurer's rescue as "tragic" and "terrible."

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But he fully supports them?

Mr. Geithner said he wasn't involved in widely criticized New York Fed decisions in late 2008 and early 2009 to limit disclosure about the payouts, including banks' names and the amounts they received.

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So who was in charge? What was he doing besides polishing his resume (and not filing taxes)?


Geithner got the grilling today, but Bernanke is up for reconfirmation. Should he take the fall? Should he be punished for things that he should have prevented, or for things that he had no control over?