The Golden Truth: Who Is Geithner Kidding?

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Who Is Geithner Kidding?

The Treasury announced a record $75 billion quarterly refunding auction next week. The number of Treasury auctions have doubled from 36 to 72 over the past year. In the same breath, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner "has pledged to reduce government borrowing to a sustainable path once the economy returns to firmer footing."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-plans-to-sell-a-record-amount-of-debt-2009-08-05

Seriously, who is he kidding? He made a similar comment to an audience of Chinese university students in his spring trip to China and they laughed at him. The reality is that the Obama Government essentially quadrupled the spending deficit in it's first year from the deficit level in Bush's last term ($500 billion to $2 trillion, roughly).

But I would love to see the real spending numbers, and thus the real deficit, because multi-billion spending programs like the war on terror and the Government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac AND the Wall Street bailout are "off budget," meaning the costs and the deficit effects of that spending is not reported in the official "budget."

Furthermore, the tax revenue base declined by record amount not seen since 1932:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32275055/ns/politics-more_politics/

So our spending, on and off budget, continues to increase by $100's of billions, and the revenues to pay for that spending is declining at record pace. How the heck can Geithner possibly expect anyone to take him seriously when you look at what the real numbers are and the facts behind the real spending and the real source of Government revenue?

As an aside, I would like to express that, as reported by the NY Times, et al., the expletive-filled, hour long tirade by Geithner in a meeting with other members of our Government, including some prominent women, is not only completely unprofessional, it is a complete disgrace to our country and irreparably inexcusable. Coming from a Wall Street environment which tolerates quite a bit of unprofessional behavior, if I had put on a curse-filled display like in a meeting with other professionals, especially women, I would have been fired.

4 comments:

EconomicDisconnectWednesday, 05 August, 2009
Great Article!
"As an aside, I would like to express that, as reported by the NY Times, et al., the expletive-filled, hour long tirade by Geithner in a meeting with other members of our Government, including some prominent women, is not only completely unprofessional, it is a complete disgrace to our country and irreparably inexcusable."

I could not agree more.
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Dave in DenverWednesday, 05 August, 2009
Thanks for the feedback. Geithner typifies the incompetence and corruption in the Obama administration.
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AnonymousWednesday, 05 August, 2009
"I would have been fired"

You must have come from a background which actually practised some level of civility.

TBH, the participants in this current administration appear to be a group of lightweights and one couldn't ask for a worse time for this kind of selection.
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Dave in DenverThursday, 06 August, 2009
ripoff: we behaved like a lockerroom on our trading desk, but in meetings. an outburst like Geithner would have gotten us fired. Human Resources started cracking down on "offensive behavior" toward females in the mid-1990's. In fact, they had to move our junk bond desk to a separate floor cuz we were so rowdy LOL.

This group is not only lightweights, they are owned by Wall Street.
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Why Gold?

Gold is the world's oldest currency. You exchange your fiat currency (dollars, euros, yen, yuan) into gold as an insurance policy against catastrophic Central Bank and Government policies which serve to destroy the value of fiat currencies and destroy democracy.

Gold can ONLY be considered an investment to the extent that it remains significantly and historically undervalued in relation to the fiat currencies against which its value is measured. Otherwise it remains the world's oldest currency and is completely free from the counterparty risk associated with currency by Government fiat (i.e. fiat currencies rely on a Government's "full faith and credit.")

Quote Of The Month Courtesy of "Jesse"

Unfortunately for Larry Summers, Ben Bernanke, and their friends at the BIS, they have not yet figured out how to print physical gold, silver, and other essential commodities, and the world is reaching the point where it might simply start ignoring the New York based markets with respect to essential commodities such as basic materials, oil, foodstuffs, and the like, as they become increasingly irrelevant, fraudulent, and Orwellian. And then where will the financial engineers be, except with no more excuses and no place to hide?

Here is the link to his entire commentary, well worth a read:

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/gold-daily-chart-shock-and-awe-for.html

Great Quote From Jim Rogers On Govt CPI Reporting

JR: I mean, we have inflation now. If you go to the shop, whether it’s groceries, or education or insurance or health care, prices are going up for everything. The government lies about it in the US. Some countries lie, many countries don’t: Australia, China, India and Norway. Many countries don’t lie about it and acknowledge that we have inflation. Others lie about it, the UK and the US, but if you go shopping you know prices are up.

Q: Are you saying that the American Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is a lie?

JR: In my opinion, yes, of course it is. Have you looked at it? They’ve changed their accounting several times in the past few decades. When housing was 20% to 25% of the CPI and housing was going up, they didn’t count it, saying rents weren’t going up, and then when home prices started going down, they counted it. It’s the same with many things. It’s staggering some of the tortuous reasoning that the BLS has used over the past 25 or 30 years. When the price of gasoline goes up, they say it’s not really going up because it’s better gasoline, better quality, therefore you’re getting more for your money. I mean, it’s endless, the stuff that they say and for some reason people sit there, although more and more people are catching on, and accept what the government says.

source: www.clusterstock.com

Quote of the Week

"The primary function of a Central Bank is to engage in the massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy elite. The Federal Reserve was set up to do this with the blessing and support of Congress." - Dave in Denver

If you refuse to believe the above, please read "The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve" by G. Edward Griffin and then explain to me why the Senate voted down the Vitter Amendment and Congress refuses to pass a law requiring a full audit of the Fed, even though the Fed is using taxpayer-backed money to bailout Wall Street and Europe.