Why Jack Lew Would Be Even Worse Than Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary

Do you know Tim Geithner? Chances are you are carrying his autograph in your pocket at this very moment.  As the 75th Secretary of the Treasury the man's signature appears in the lower right hand corner of all the money printed since he took office around today's date in 2009. And that's a lot of money. The Treasury created trillions of dollars during Geithner's tenure, much of it in the form of notes, bills, and bonds (all just IOUs but with different due dates) which are created by the Treasury and either sold at auction to private investors or in many cases handed directly to the Federal Reserve Bank in exchange for a hypothetical "credit" which offsets the IOU on their balance sheet, creating spendable money out of thin air.

Geithner himself was formerly a president and CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.  His potential replacement, Jack "Loopy" Lew (so called because of his slinky “O-o-O-o-O” signature that, if confirmed, will soon festoon your paper money) is a Harvard and Citigroup crony while the Treasury Secretary that came before Geithner served as Chairman and CEO of Goldman-Sachs. This is indicative of how inbred our financial ruler-elites are since Citi and Goldman-Sachs are also major stakeholders in the Federal Reserve Bank (which contrary to general misperception is not a government organization).

Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies that prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory moneylenders.

– The Honorable Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s

Now, after a 4-year term of bobbing and weaving in the Treasury's treacherous pas de deux with the Federal Reserve, Tim Geithner has finally ended the macabre dance by unceremoniously fleeing the ball. One might find the allegory inappropriate; possibly opting for something more like "a rat deserting a sinking ship" but let's give credit where credit is due (pun intended). Geithner faced bureaucratic, public relations, and economic maneuverings beyond the scope of any that have ever existed in the history of the modern nation state.

Coming on the scene immediately after the near collapse of Western banking, which might have led to the end of Western civilization, Geithner inherited the mess left by his predecessor Hank Paulson, who presided over the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression. Some wondered if he was simply a well-paid fall guy who would shoulder the blame for whatever disaster befell the Treasury during his term as a result of the unsustainable borrowing and spending patterns that began long before his tenure. To everyone's surprise, Geithner made it through relatively unscathed. Now it is Lew whom may be the last man standing when the music stops.

Whoever takes the helm at the Treasury now and in the future becomes the de facto arbiter of financial policy in our country. It is clear that this exclusive circle of moneymen is extremely tight-knit and comprised solely of kissing cousins from the five remaining major banks. One of the most troubling aspects of their shared philosophy is the 30-year war on gold staged by their institutions. The Treasury, in an effort to defend the dollar, has long disparaged the role of gold in modern monetary systems. This somewhat defensible behavior on the part of the Treasury has allowed massive "printing" of money to maintain liquidity in what should have been a massive "correction." Unfortunately, while keeping the dollar's relative strength high it has provided the Treasury with the tools needed to coddle and buoy political allies in Congress. Politicians gain favor and re-election by buying favors with money they don't have. Geithner and his ilk have been happy to supply the borrowed cash and hand the bill to the next generation of taxpayers.

I only hope Geithner will be "okay." It's a tough time to be out of a job; just ask the 20 million others who have been rendered unemployed by Fed and Treasury policy and their profligate henchmen in Congress. I'd be relieved to see Geithner go if it weren't for the fact that his replacement, hand-picked for his support of raising the debt ceiling unendingly, will probably be worse. So all we can do is say, "Good luck and God bless, Mr. Geithner." And "God help us all."