geithner said there was no choice. >> deciding to support a.i.g. one of the most difficult choices i have ever been involved in in over 20 years of public service. the steps that were taken were motivated solely by what we believe to be in the public interest. we did not act because a.i.g. asked for help. we did not act to protect individual institutions. we acted because the consequences of a.i.g. failing would have been catastrophic for our economy and for american families and businesses. at the height of the financial crisis, the federal reserve-- working with the treasury-- loaned aig $85 billion. a.i.g., in turn paid more than $60 billion to banks and companies such as goldman sachs. goldman held contracts with the insurance giant to protect against losses worth billions. as the financial crisis worsened, total government aid to a.i.g. swelled to $180 billion dollars. at the time of the initial loan, geithner was president of the new york federal reserve. >> more than a year removed from that terrible week of september 2008, i believe that th

geithner?>> i believe i know one. >> when you left goldman sachs and went to the treasury you were there three years and you got $200 million in tax benefits because you didn't have to pay capital gains on $500 million worth of stock, right? >> i would strongly disagree with that. because -- >> well, that's what's been reported. >> let me explain. >> it's okay. you can respond -- i'll send a question to you in writing. >> okay. >> the concern i have is the same concern that mr. sterns has. you came before our conference very nervous saying, oh my gosh, the sky's falling. we have to come up with this money quickly. you were visibly nervous when you came before our caucus. then we have this bailout of aig and you don't know anything about it. mr. geithner had nothing to do with it. it just really boggles the mind that some of the biggest people involved in this whole thing from beginning to end had nothing to do with it. they didn't know. makes you want to think that some clerk some place was mak

geithner. it is committee policy that all witnesses are sworn in. so, mr. secretary, if you would stand and raise your right hand. do you slum olemnly swear to te the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> yes, sir. >> let the record so mr. geithner has been duly sworn. >> chairman towns, ranking member issa, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to temperature before you today. i welcome the committee's attention to this issue. and we will continue to work closely with this committee, with all other oversight bodies -- >> mr. secretary, pull the mike just a little closer. we're hearing you. >> i'm almost eating it. how's that sound? >> our sound system isn't that good around here. >> i don't think i can make it any closer. i want to make sure that the american people have a comprehensive view of the actions we took to end this financial crisis. deciding to support aig was one of the most difficult choices i've ever been involved in in over 20 years of public ser

geithner? >> i believe i know one. >> when you left goldman sachs and went to the treasury you were there three years and you got $200 million in tax benefits because you didn't have to pay capital gains on $500 million worth of stock, right? >> i would strongly disagree with that. because -- >> well, that's what's been reported. >> let me explain. >> it's okay. you can respond -- i'll send a question to you in writing. >> okay. >> the concern i have is the same concern that mr. sterns has. you came before our conference very nervous saying, oh my gosh, the sky's falling. we have to come up with this money quickly. you were visibly nervous when you came before our caucus. then we have this bailout of aig and you don't know anything about it. mr. geithner had nothing to do with it. it just really boggles the mind that some of the biggest people involved in this whole thing from beginning to end had nothing to do with it. they didn't know. makes you want to think that some clerk some place was ma

geithner, for being here.y department was at the request of then president bush. and, second, i understand your testimony that the people responsible for administering this made the best decisions they could under the circumstances. i just want to ask a couple of questions, though, that start with one of the statements you made, mr. geithner, about the effect of the actions taken has stabilized the financial system. i'm not here to argue that. the question i have is has it helped the broad main street economy? and there are many who believe, and i'm among them, that wall street got out ahead of itself, got in the business of self-enrichment rather than financing american jobs, american entrepreneurs, and actually transformed itself from an entity that was about creating jobs into the greatest job killing machine in the history of the country. there is two things that i want to ask. one is the bank fee that president obama has endorsed, you see that as essential to have the folks who were largely responsible fo

geithner and the economic team, there are new practices and we want to do our part. part of what we did to help the american taxpayer, we played a big part in executing the recovery act last year. we tried to do that swiftly and efficiently. we also took some steps ourselves. basically raising the threshold, giving the topline people, collection people, more discretion in working with taxpayers. remember, the reason that i did that, first, it was the right thing to do. second, if someone misses a payment and we can keep them in the system, that will keep them in the system long term. frankly, a lot of that flexibility was always there. as commissioner i had the opportunity to emphasize that it was hard for us to measure who was using them. the real things that we measure our if they are making payments, etc. but those are still in place and frankly those are things we need to be doing. i want to make sure that our people are not simply running a nameless, faceless procuracy, but that each person is treated as an individual and respectfully. >> i am curious about how

secretary geithner, i think -- pardon me? i think you've answered that you played no role in the decision to not disclose the full payment, the 100% payment to the counterparties. that were you not part of what some of us called a cover-up. is that right? >> absolutely. >> okay. let me follow-up, then. if after november 24th you were not involved in any activity then one more just to be clear, did you ever become involved with the federal reserve's disclosure decision with respect to counterparty claims after your nomination as treasury secretary? in other words have you ever participated or questioned or stayed involved with that? >> no i did not. >> well, from what we were given by the fed, can we put up slide one. this e-mail from you says -- to william dudley your replacement, on march of 2009 and it -- where's the line to read here? okay. it's easier to read on the screen. where are you on the aig counterparty disclosure issue? long after you left you made this e-mail. what was it about and what was the answer? >> well c

secretary geithner, i think -- pardon me? i think you've answered that you played no role in the decision to not disclose the full payment, the 100% payment to the counterparties. that were you not part of what some of us called a cover-up. is that right? >> absolutely. >> okay. let me follow-up, then. if after november 24th you were not involved in any activity, then one more just to be clear, did you ever become involved with the federal reserve's disclosure decision with respect to counterparty claims after your nomination as treasury secretary? in other words, have you ever participated or questioned or stayed involved with that? >> no, i did not. >> well, from what we were given by the fed, can we put up slide one. this e-mail from you says -- to william dudley, your replacement, on march of 2009, and it -- where's the line to read here? okay. it's easier to read on the screen. where are you on the aig counterparty disclosure issue? long after you left, you made this e-mail. what was it about and what was the answer? >>

and they came up with this thing, they been bernanke and paulson and geithner called the t.a.r.p., the toxic -- >> guest: troubled asset. >> host: troubled asset recovery program. and they went to congress and got a lot of money to make a sort of general solution to the problems and try to prevent any more institutions from going down. they had to scare the congress to get the money. talk a little bit about that. >> guest: after aig, bernanke says he doesn't think the fed can keep doing this, the fires are getting too big for the fed to put out and paulson comes to the same realization and they decide they have to go to congress and get money. this is something paulson has been trying to avoid. he's much more comfortable having the fed do this in dealing with congress and dealing with money. >> host: not surprising. guests could totally irrational. so he and bernanke, no sign of the president, go to capitol hill, meet with leaders and bernanke does scare the hell out of them. bernanke invokes the great depression and says it is up to them to stop at, and he's known for some time it is

geithner office and the new york fed say he was unaware of the push for secrecy.cks finish the week on a positive note. the dow was up 11 1/3. the s&p 500 gained 3 1/4. nasdaq finished ahead 1 a17 and change. benchmark crude oil finished higher to settle at $82.75 a barrel. gasoline is selling for average of $2.73, up 8 cents from a week ago and dollar from a year ago. we will tell you the story behind one of sarah palin's most unforgettable campaign lines. and is a healthcare reform compromise possible over the uncompromising issue of abortion? will everyone with constipation please report to gate 17? thank you so much. constipation's uncomfortable enough, so why take a harsh laxative? phillips' caplets work naturally with your colon... for overnight relief without cramps. phillips' caplets. >> bret: there is perhaps no more polarizing issue in healthcare reform debate than abortion. tonight, chief washington correspondent jim angle concludes his series "healthcare countdown debating the differences" by examining the house and senate positions on the politically

. >> woodruff: we'll have back to back interviews with treasury secretary timothy geithner and a leading republican congressman scott garrett. >> lehrer: then, more aid arrives in haiti by ship and by air. some shops re-open even as thousands still live on the streets. >> reporter: are you going to try to stay here, or are you going to try to move somewhere? >> well, moving somewhere... the big question mark is where. because, actually, no where in port-au-prince is safe. >> woodruff: margaret warner gets the latest from martin smith of "frontline" in port-au-prince. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron invests $62 million in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, building. fueling growth around the world to move us all ahead. this is the power of human energy. chevron. >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain fr

my problem with ben bernanke and the president and geithner -- or secretary geithner, excuse me, is not that they made mistakes because congress made mistakes in not overseeing fannie mae and freddie mac and asking the right questions to the federal reserve, but the fact that despite that the evidence is so clear of what really caused our problem, mr. bernanke still does not recognize those as the causes of our problem. in fact, he continues the same easy money policy. he r expressed no sense of urgency that we need to get the federal government out of owning a.i.g., fannie mae, general motors or chrysler. when we bring him in for hearings, he seems to be more of a command-and-control person than someone who believes in a free market system that we need to have good laws and regulations to guide. but he and secretary geithner and the president indicate that they can run this economy, that they can micromanage it. but, folks, to confirm ben bernanke is to confirm the continuation of easy money policies, high leverage as well as a continuation of what fannie mae and freddie mac did to cre

. >> coming up turbo tax cheat tim geithner back in the hot seat.ewly discovered e-mails that could cause the treasury secretary's job. >> video of the official who vowed to drop the "f" word in every board meeting in 2010. that and more straight ahead. [ female announcer ] 1 out of 2 women over 50 will have an osteoporosis related fracture in their lifetime. if you have post-menopausal osteoporosis, are you more likely to break a bone? if you're getting calcium, are you sure it's enough to fight osteoporosis? if you exercise, are you sure that's enough? call 1-800-869-8814 to find out more in this free information kit. in it, you'll see the difference between the inside of a strong bone and the inside of an osteoporotic bone weakened and prone to fracture. you'll find ways to help reverse bone loss and ways to help prevent fractures. call 1-800-869-8814 and learn how to help maintain strong bones and read about a treatment option for post-menopausal osteoporosis. there's even a discussion guide to use when you talk to your doctor. are you calling n

it was a moment when whether by design or by accident ben bernanke, tim geithner of the fed and hank paulson of the treasury let lehman brothers fail and the consequences were buyer and almost immediately they were faced with another giant, joseph aig. aig isn't a bank, it isn't even an investment bank, it is an insurance company, and what was the fed doing bodying in insurance company? how are you still have a fantasy back when i was at the fed if somebody on the staff had walked into my office and said i think we ought to buy a large failing insurance company what what i have said? >> guest: bear stearns and lehman brothers are kind of second cousins and the fed at least understood the business. they really did not see aig coming. aig is a terrible illustration how firms can exploit loopholes in our financial regulation. aig that has a fascinating history of its own at this point is a series of very strong insurance companies on top of which has been built a casino and the casino is where people are betting on the defaults of other companies and it turns out that they've taken a lo

. >> coming up turbo tax cheat tim geithner back in the hot seat.newly discovered e-mails that could cause the treasury secretary's job. >> video of the official who vowed to drop the "f" word in every board meeting in host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: does charlie daniels play a mean fiddle? ♪ fiddle music charlie:hat's how you do it son. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. . >> sean: tonight in hannity's america you may be surprised to learn that one of the nation's top intelligence officials doesn't know the flight number of the plane targeted on christmas day. in a memo released yesterday the director of national intelligence dennis blair wrote the terrorist boarded northwest airlines flight 153 for detroit but the number was 253. josh reports that blair later corrected the memo not before it was sent to reporters. done you feel safe with this guy and leon panetta both being in charge of the intelligence community? >> tomorrow a not so happy anniversary for christina

geithner, now secretary geithner, was head of the bank at the time.ing very tough questions before congress on the bank bailouts. president obama speaking just a few minutes ago on the economy. but the job front still is very much imperfect. we'll talk to "fox news" sunday anchor chris wallace what the white house says is doing. and he'll probably be mad at me about something which is always fascinating. we'll be right back. host: does charlie daniels play a mean fiddle? ♪ fiddle music charlie:hat's how you do it son. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. is enjoying it together. and right now, a complete seafood dinner for two is just $29.99 at red lobster. you both get a fresh salad and irresistible cheddar bay biscuits... two entrees from a menu of classic favorites and new creations. and your choice of either an appetizer or a dessert to share. your favorite seafood with your favorite person. just $29.99. for a limited time at red lobster. i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tyl

, the president reviewed the situation late today with his embattled treasury secretary, timothy geithner. he's come under growingcluding a contentious congressional hearing this week. >> sreenivasan: stocks fell today, despite the report of surging growth in the fourth quarter. wall street focused more on signs the surge may be short- lived. the dow jones industrial average lost 53 points to close at 10,067. the nasdaq fell more than 31 points to close at 2,147. overall, this was the market's worst month since last february. the dow ended with a loss of 3.5%. the nasdaq fell more than 5%. toyota moved today to begin fixing a gas pedal problem that has forced it to stop selling most models in the u.s. the pedals can stick, forcing the car to accelerate out of control. the associated press reported new parts are being sent first to factories. the problem affects about 4.2 million vehicles in north america, europe and china. toyota is a newshour funder. three more americans have been killed in afghanistan. that makes 29 this month. a nato announcement today said the latest fatalities were t

went in an entirely differe direction th what secretary geithner is trng to do right he. >> woodruff:et me just understand, so going forward would you and other reblicans support the idea of makingure a bank does t own-- have the abily any longer to own a private uity fund or hedge fund? >> no, we wouldn't. and we wouldn'see the need for it becau we would not support the ideaf that institution being totally bailed outgain by the taxpayer. woodruff: and the other half of this is the idea o limiting consolidation, puttg limits on thsize that any bank would be allowed-- the large bank-- would be allowed grow. >>un, years ago, and not t long ago, the united stas had so of the-- the majority of the largt financial institutions in world. now we've gone down to the poin- you can count them on one hand. where are the st of the large financial institions? elsewhere the world. if what th administration says we're going to tie theand even more so we're going to put a limit onhem, the secretary answeredour question by saying, do y want to dismantle them? he should haveaid yes because that's what

it was a bad moment when whether by design or by accident history ben bernanke and tim geithner, still dennett the new york fed and hank paulson at the treasury let and lehman brothers fail, and the consequences were dire. and almost immediately they were faced with another giant. aig. now, aig isn't a bank. it isn't even an investment bank. it's an insurance company. and what was the fed doing bunning in insurance company? i used to have a fantasy back when i was at the fed if somebody from the staff had walked into my office and said i think we ought to buy a large failing insurance company -- [laughter] -- what what i have said? >> guest: i think there was quite a bit of that at the fed at that time. so, they're stearns and lehman brothers are kind of second cousins of the bank and said understood the business they were in. they really did not see aig coming. aig is a terrible illustration of how firms can exploit the loopholes in our financial regulation. aig, which is a fascinating history of its own at this point is a series of very strong insurance companies on top of which has

why do we need him and geithner? geithner was around with the same problem, probably different levels of the fed, and they both watched this accumulation that fannie mae and freddie mabling and all these bad mortgages going on, and i think they ought to -- why don't they just get new people? we got 300 million in this country, and we got to keep looking at guys like guide zpher bernanke? host: so to your point, if they did get new people, then what philosophy should these thinkers take? what kind of path should they drive, so to speak? caller: number one, back to the enforcement of glass, separate investment banks from -- separate conservative banking from investing. that's the number one thing that really screwed up. and the simple rules of 20% down on our homes so we don't go into a real estate bubble again. people think it's easy money, and they throw their money in and they want to blame congress for all of the blame. but we need back to basic rules of real estate. and the rules that ran real estate for years sin

. >> tim geithner. >> the leaders of most of our major financial institutions in this country. >> theost overrated is freedom. when faced with economic uncertainty, people don't want freedom. when they can't see their economic future, they want the nanny state. okay the most under rated. >> robert gates, most powerful man in the cabinet. >> eleanor. > nancy pelosi, who held together a caucus and is raising money like crazy, so she can prove all you people wrong. >> sarah palin, she has a lot more cultural power than her critics can see or admit. >> mort. >> dennis >>> most underrated, the intensity of the anger in the u.s. middle class. 78million american baby boomers will wake up to the fact that their net worth is shatters and 15 million americans will realize their jobs are not coming back. we'll be right back with new year's resolutions. when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity

my other prediction is tim geithner will not be named sexian man alive and eagles win the super bowl and donovan mcnabb will be the most valuable player and he will ask rush limbaugh, "what do you think of me now?" >> we were just talking about 2010. my money prediction is i'm going to be in a movie. "boys on the bus." it comes out in the spring. >> are you going to walk the red carpet? >> i hope so. if you're not on vacation that week so you can fill in for me. >> he didn't ask me to go, you notice. >> it's going to be one way or the other, a lot of people think it's going to be a better year. if you take return of conspicuous consumption and combine it with the year of fun gadgetry. >> that's what we spend it on. >> but higher taxes. >> i think so, too. people with money are going to find ways to start feeling better about things. people who don't have money will be deleveraging. >> and we'll talk about predictions of real estate and the price of gold and oil. >> and we'll turn to a professional next, a true professional to predict the future. these people are never wrong. %% >>>

geithner and dr. summers were very frank in their discussions. we have frank discussions with them as well. there are some issues that we have to work through, and we also know there is a jobs package. everything is about jobs. what we are here today talking about is the jobs for the people of america. our citizens, our shared constituency, and therefore we need to make sure that the target actions going forth is about jobs for our people. we need to maintain the jobs that we have, we need to create the jobs, and attract new jobs to our metropolitan economies. so throughout our meeting, we have had the opportunity to also hear from the first lady, her initiative on childhood obesity, and we will partner with her on this movement. we will do very well, because this is an area that we have been working on in our cities for seven years in the u.s. conference of mayors. we have also had the opportunity to talk with nine cabinet members, very frank discussions. our meeting was set up in a very different way this time so that we could have a dialogue r

well, that is what chairman bernanke and the treasury secretary's paulson in geithner did for nation. so he deserved to be reconfirmed for that reason. the second reason he needs to be reconfirmed is because we are looking at very tough times. and the money, the liquidity that was required to be put into the system, this $2 trillion, as the system recovers becomes a risk for the system. we all know that. effect liquidity is allowed to play itself out and multiplied, you could end up with a fairly significant inflationary event and as we all know, inflation is the crew list at the vault because it the values peoples savings and it undermines the productivity of the nation. so, how this liquidity comes out of the markets, how we get this $2 trillion plus as a dismal supply data the system is going to be a very complicated but very very important undertaking and it is going to be primarily the responsibility of the fed. chairman bernanke has outlined very clearly and they think it is very positive way how he intends to accomplish that. how the federal reserve will start to draw down the

geithner had nothing to do with it. it just really boggles the mind that some of the biggest people involved in this whole thing from beginning to end had nothing to do with it. they didn't know. it make you want to think that some clerk someplace was making these decisions. i don't think anybody is going to buy that. you in mr. geithner and others were directly involved in making this decision, will you not? >> of course were director involved, and i said in my testimony. i heard mr. guyton's testimony. i heard him say the same thing. i was very supportive of that decision. to prevent the failure of aig. >> who is next? mr. lynch? >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> two minutes. >> mr. secretary, you are essentially involved in negotiations regarding bear stearns when you insisted on a very, very low price on the part of the bear stearns shareholders in order to protect the taxpayer who has been reported that you are very supportive of a 2-dollar a share price in order to protect the shared excuse me protect the taxpayers i

my other prediction is, tim geithner will not be named sexiest man alive, and the eagles will win thealuable player and ask rush limbaugh what do you think about me now? >> ooh. >> wow. a long-term prediction. >> we were just talking about 2010. my money prediction is i'm going to be in a movie. >> you are. he's in "wall street." >> in the spring. >> excellent. >> i'm excited about it. >> are you going to walk the red carpet? >> if you are not on vacation that week so you can fill in for me. >> what i meant is -- it is going to be one way or the other, there are a lot of people that think it will be a better year. if you take joanne's return of conspicuous consumption so we can end and combine it with the year of fund gadgetry. >> that's what we spend it on. >> spend your money on new gadgets. >> people with money are going to find ways to start feeling better about things and the others will be finding out ways to deleverage their house hold. >> real estate for the price of gold and oil and your stocks throughout the show? we are going to turn to professional next. true professional

it derivatives go some of the way towards regulating but bernanke is giving wall street a pass-- geithner is giving wall street the pass on some of them, i.e. the more complicated ones that can still trade among themselves. i think those exceptions, i think they should all be forced to trade over. if you are asking me basically to think the proposed regulations go far enough my answer is no, i don't. i tend to be of the paul volcker view that we should consider a split up of the financial system. not really glass-steagall but it 21st century version of glass-steagall where you have a safe financial sector, which sort of oversight of consumer deposits, brokerage accounts in several. that would the government guarantee that those companies go into trouble. there would be an explicit or semiexplicit government guarantee that they couldn't go bankrupt but in return they would be heavily regulated, have high capital requirements. you have the utility banking system and on the other side people like goldman sachs say we don't want anything to do with that. find. they could, what people call cas

i was at the oversight and government reform committee hearing, listening to secretary geithner, and,should be glad you're here, not there. i'm going to ask just, some, series of questions, real quickly if i can. first of all, i worked in the senate from 1979 to 1989 for a committee and those were the gramm-rudman hollings days, because we were so concerned about the deficit, growing debt. in retrospect in your opinion, is there empirical evidence that gramm-rudma gramm-rudman-hollings ultimately led to a balanced budget? >> actually did a little work on, congressman. i was a researcher in economics. i think the evidence is mixed. i think there is a, as you know, of course the particular numerical targets that were chosen proved to be unreachable, political matter. so the particular targets, not just the first version but the second version were not actually adhered to. i think many analysts would say that experience did focus people's attention on the issue. it kept it on front burner of the political discussion. in the end the larger steps were taken in 1990 and 1993 and later. but

geithner to tell what he knew? >> when the financial services committee generally has hearings with the treasury secretary, he goes to the hearings. >> the state of the union -- this month or next month? >> soon. >> one is still in the running. >> soon. >> is it the white house as hope to hold up the state to the union until there is a healthcare bill? >> not necessarily. >> [inaudible] >> are you a big fan? we will announce something soon. >> the labor leaders are going to be to the president on monday to talk about healthcare. will he tried to make them understand that the taxing mechanism is a better idea than they think it is? >> i would be surprised if the topic did not come up. >> what is the purpose of the meeting? what does he hope to gain out of it? >> i think the president will take the opportunity to discuss that issue with them. i know that it is an issue that is a difference in the legislation that the house and the senate passed. i think the president will talk through it with them, what he believes c

remarkable in the sense that we were headed over a brink and thanks to wall sen and bernanke and geithner and the ones team and others, -- the obama team and others we have avoided a catastrophe. and from these numbers from what i hear from economists is there was a stablization in the sense that the fall in jobs is arrested and we'll probably see a slow regrowth. it's not going to be a sharp rebound as happened in the reagan rescission. -- recession. but the idea that we are not headed over a cliff is an important one. and people have a sense that there's going to be a slow and gradual rehiring but over a longer period of time. >> and congratulations. we are majority owners we taxpayers of gmac. colby you're the banker. the giant banks are raking it in and not shelling it out. how about the smaller banks in terms of the commercial property they hold, the paper they hold on that? any surprises? >> well, yeah, there'll be some surprises there. rather the paper is going to be very bad paper. but i went back and looked at the "washington post" for january 2nd, 2009. i looked at words "crisis

secretary geithner was not involved in any of these e-mails. these decisions did not raise to his level at the fed. these are e-mails and decisions made by official thes at -- officials at an independent regulatory agency -- >> how do you know he wasn't involved? he was a leader of the new york fed. >> right, but he wasn't on the e-mails that have been talked about and wasn't party to the decision that was being made. >> republican congressman issa

. >> a house panel is demanding documents about decisions made under timothy geithner. the have subpoenaed the federal reserve bank of new york. the government stepped in to rescue aig. >>> it is tim kaine's last speech as the virginia governor. he noted for jinnah landed five corporate headquarters during the worst economic slide in 70 years. he said no state can recommend. economic edge with a jammed highways. >> i believe the biggest challenge is the decades old gridlock. >> he called for more investments in higher education. his successor will be sworn in this saturday. >>> 5:16. your traffic and weather together every 10 minutes. we continue to fall this breakingtory in bethesda. >> we have a huge truck fire that is raging. >> you are looking live at montrose road over 270. this truckhas been burning for over 30 minutes. it caught on fire. authorities have not been able to get close enough to determine the contents. the belief it to be a tanker carrying a highly flammable liquid. 270 northbound is closed, according to callers. southbound 270, only the local lanes f

i have not seen in a treasury secretary spankeed like tim geithner was today. a democratic congressman from massachusetts took him right to the wood chest. when a president has his treasury secretary badly abused by a member of his own party, this is a president in trouble. the principal difference between him and reagan was that reagan had a clear and coherent program and after a year it was not working. the problem that barack obama has is that he lacks a clear program. they appear to be grasping at straws. everyone is dissatisfied with his ceci. he is trying to fix his social agenda into the the economy. the reality is that things like clean energy, health care reform, they will change the economy but they need the tail wind of a good strong macro economy to get it done. the president talk about that on the campaign trail. in the midwest, he talked about dealing with china. tonight, he have to explain how he will get the job done. >> let me bring it back to some of the politics. i want to refer to what bill clinton said back in 1995 as he lost control of the

i would tell you that there are not e-mails that involve secretary the -- secretary geithner in this instance. these are e-mails and decisions made by two people. that decision did not rise to his level. >> okay. last thing on this. various liberals have jumped on this and other stories about secretary geithner saying he really is not fit to serve as treasury secretary the. he still has the president's full confidence? >> of course. >> robert, at today's 2:40 event will he be dealing only with the jobs issue, or might he also talk about the christmas day incident? >> as far as i know the last time i saw the remarks, it was just on jobs and the energy announcement. >> he has spoken quite a bit on the christmas day incident, but he hasn't opened himself up to questions from the media. do you think he might entertain some questions on this, and isn't it unusual that an event this big that he would not open himself up to questions? >> i don't want to speculate. he's not taking questions today. >> i think i'll be backed up, he hasn't had a press conference since july at the white house. w

. >> i want to ask you about timothy geithner. there was some evidence suggesting that under his leadership, then you're far reserve pressured aig to conceal information about the counterparty payments that were made with taxpayer money. they are suggesting that he was hiding information from regulators. i wonder, does the white house believe that secretary geithner should testify on the document he has to clear this up? >> i pointed to the treasury department. i am sure you of already talked to them. secretary geithner was not involved in any of these e- mails, these decisions did not raise it to his level in the fed. these were e-mails and decisions made by officials at age -- at an independent regulatory agency. >> he was the leader of the new york fed. >> he was not on the e-mails that have been talked about and was not party to the decision that was being made. >> there probably thousands of more e-mails and he may not be on sound that some have looked at. in the interest of transparency, -- >> i would point you to the depart

timothy geithner, who was head of the new york fed at the time has come under scrutiny. one of the most controversial parts of the government bailout effort. the indianapolis, good morning to jeff. caller: i and a stampede a lot of said of the bonuses but what people understand, what happens is a person get a salary and bonus as part of their compensation. all it is, is in a person contract. in order for the federal government to try to do something about this, they will have to break an already negotiated contract that has been negotiated with the employees, and then you get into a constitutional issue of contract law. people can be upset all they want to about these bonuses, but most of them are contract to employees to work on wall street and right now since most of the banks paid their tarp money back, there is nothing the book and say about it. people can be upset about it all they want to but there is nothing anyone can do at this point. host: what about the role -- hang on the line for a second. i will read a little bit about an article, the business day section o

no one really believes obama will force geithner to resign over this. another potentially changed person could be summers -- this figure from the clinton era that progressives do not like. it goes against the obama cool factor where he takes things in stride. rather than to start firing people. host: this cartoon from "the washington post" -- gets back to that last caller and the election. how does each side paint itself in the best light on the jobs issue? guest: i read an interesting memo from the third way, a progressive think tank on the democratic side. they arguing that there is only so much democrats can do to control the jobs picture. a lot of this hangover in unemployment has to do with the way the crisis happened. there is only so much you can do. they were arguing that the democrats have not done a good enough job creating a narrative. they're focusing too much on dealing everyone's paying and saying this is where we are headed. it is what ronald reagan did. he managed not to lose a single senate seat in the midterm election. it was interesti

of lender freddie mac at the economic club, and secretary tim geithner testifies on capitol hill aboutresident's decision. at 7:45, art guzetti. at 8:30, kevin carey talking

host: secretary geithner said he wanted other countries to impose a similar tax on banks. likelihood? guest: i think it is quite high. it may not take exactly this form. one of the inspirations for what he did, a few months ago the british were proposing much more severe tax, not on the banks themselves but the bonuses they pay to traders -- 50%. immediately you had discussions, bankers trying to find ways to to move the employees off the books of london in to some other place. i think that was a lesson to secretary geithner about how it would be difficult to implement this. the french have already discussed and posing some sort of tax like that. in a general matter, leaving aside whether you call that a tax or higher capital charges, the finance ministry's of all the rich companies have been -- countries have discussed the some life. and the direction is definitely going toward putting more fees, charges, and restraints on the biggest banks to try to prevent this risky behavior. host: rochester, minnesota. joe on the independent line. caller: when you first started you sa

caller: i heard tim geithner will also be testifying.t a.i.g. there was a story that he knew more than people thought about the a.i.g. crisis when he was the head of the new york fed. i just hope that congress will follow through with a real financial reform. guest: mr. gardner when not be testifying today. he may testify at one of our public hearings, and i will make note of one of the question that you asked, and i will make sure he gets the chance to answer that question. in reference to the previous caller, this is a serious issue. it is not one that will be resolved or better understood by using a blanket statement of condemnation of any groups of people, whether it is their personal background or their particular current employment. our job is more difficult. we have to look at all the alleged causes of this, assess their validity and significance, and then make a report to the american people. that is what we are going to do, and we will not be driven by any other factors. host: i want to go back to the comment that you made, that

so what i've said to treasury secretary geithner and others is we can't meddle with independent regulators -- their job is to stay apart from politics and make sure the banking system is sound -- but there should be a discussion about whether or not we have seen the pendulum swing too far, where it used to be they'd just lend anybody anything; then they lost all this money and now they won't lend people with good credit anything. that is not good for the economy. so what we've tried to do is to fill some of these gaps in the meantime. for example, our small business lending through the sba has actually gone up 70 percent. and we've been waiving fees, increasing guarantees, and what we're trying to do is streamline the process for sba loans because right now there's just too much paperwork. it's typical government not having caught up with the 21st century. and you can't have a 50-pound application form. people just -- after a while, it's not worth it, in some cases. so we're trying to do all those things. now, with respect to patents, again, i don't know the particular situation. i will sa

." >> treasury secretary timothy geithner said we're expected to lose $30 billion from our investment in the auto industry. to which bernie madoff said, i could do better than that. >> joe baca is no longer planning the nomination to give tiger woods a medal. he said, instead, i'm recommending he run for congress. >> tiger woods' popularity has dropped from 85% to 33%. president obama's popularity is also at 33% but tiger had more fun getting there. >> you think the republicans can take back the house. >> we're going to try our best to do it. >> the republican party will take both houses of congress. >> you know his prediction will come true because he got it from that creepy old gypsy woman. >> and we'll be right back. that creepy old gypsy woman. >> and we'll will right back. morning.that's our program this thanks for joining us. have a great week. so long.

caller: i heard tim geithner will also be testifying.t a.i.g. there was a story that he knew more than people thought about the a.i.g. crisis when he was the head of the new york fed. i just hope that congress will follow through with a real financial reform. guest: mr. gardner when not be testifying today. he may testify at one of our public hearings, and i will make note of one of the question that you asked, and i will make sure he gets the chance to answer that question. in reference to the previous caller, this is a serious issue. it is not one that will be resolved or better understood by using a blanket statement of condemnation of any groups of people, whether it is their personal background or their particular current employment. our job is more difficult. we have to look at all the alleged causes of this, assess their validity and significance, and then make a report to the american people. that is what we are going to do, and we will not be driven by any other factors. host: i want to go back to the comment that you made, that

. >> secretary geithner said job growth would begin by spring. >> i think that's realistic. >> what kind of job growth are you expecting? when, exactly, do you think it will begin? >> with the pattern of moderation, i think we're getting close to stability in employment. the next step is obviously to finally start adding jobs. >> you don't know the magnitude? >> you don't know the magnitude. we we'll get a lot better read as we see what's happening to gdp. a precursor for job growth is economic growth. how strong is it? the big variable is the private sector. the government has been doing a lot to hold up demand. the recovery act has been incredibly important. the whole question is, when does the private sector get its sea legs again? >> you don't think they've been doing enough? >> people have been nervous. we're starting to see the confidence numbers come back. what the president was talking about at the job summit, what are the actions we can take now for this stage of the recovery, that might help take the firms thinking about hiring to get them to hire? >> that's the next big questi

. >> the man likes to spend i'm glad him and geithner not hitting us with a turn the clocks back.n't quit smokings, i think he ought to start lighting up at the press conferences, how many zeros in 780 billion just start blowing those smoke rings out time after time. >> bill: now, i was impressed and i bet you were, too, the guy tries it stay in shape and nancy pelosi's aerobic power, up and down, in and outnight i just want to tell the parents out there who are looking to pre-order that for christmas, it's called the hack in the box, okay? you know what she was sitting down i thought she was a little i thought somebody pumped a sedated dart in her haunch. if there's money involved she's up like a seal at sea world. >> bill: i like that. >> hello everybody, please have a seat. >> bill: there's a lot of criticism about barack obama on various programs and on the web and all of that. i didn't see anything over the line, did you? >> listen, he's got to get some rhino skin. it's a brutal job and if he's going to go on prompter like that, occasionally people are going to light him up.

bernanke and geithner say is the time it was such a big crisis they did know what they were doing. you know, things are happening so quickly, it was all snowballing. i think that's a bit of a copout. especially in the aig case, the famous aig case where they agreed to pay everybody out of power on the cbs's -- sorry, for the job and basically agreed to bail out all the people who were inhofe to aig at 100%. i think they could've easily given them 50%, for example. and it turns out the golden was one of the big beneficiaries, so that's caused all this conspiracy theories. i just don't know if there was a conspiracy. it was a bad financial decision by the government, i think. >> in the more? sure. >> bernanke is being blamed these days for not having seen all this and forestalled its occurrence. after march of this year, barney frank and paul were a dialogue in the kennedy library, and each person's opening statement was comical, i didn't see this coming. which is something to conjure with. and i asked mr. frank if he could rerun the tape, what would he have had in place. and he said

and tim geithner could learn a lesson from dubai. dubai is saying why should we bailout dubai world which is effectively a bailout of sophisticated banks. we did the same thing with aig. because or partly because we were under this systemic pressure. >> your limits on borrowing apply just to financial firms would insure depositories? or to the whole economy? and if so, what's the philosophical justification for the interference in the right of contract of a willing lender to loan as much money as he wants to, to a borrower? >> banks. the justification is that your right to lend o'barr on an unlimited basis and/or your ability to hold the entire economy hostage begins. multiplied across the economy borrowing without any room for error just results in nationalization. we saw this in the 30. we saw it again over the past two years. and we can't -- one of the lessons of the modern way of creating credit through securities is you can't protect credit from the excesses of speculation just through the uninsured deposits. we have to have som