Geithner Still Pushing the “Lawsuit” Myth

Apparently, Tim Geithner is about to go on CNN and admit he was the one who put the bonus loophole in the stimulus bill. But he’s still telling the "afraid of lawsuit" story that Larry Summers already spun.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses.

In an interview with CNN’s Ali Velshi, Geithner said the Treasury Department was particularly concerned the government would face lawsuits if bonus contracts were breached.

Aside from the fact that the White House just made the Democrats’ most endangered Senator, Chris Dodd, take the fall for this in two media cycles, I gotta say I’m utterly disgusted that Geithner is still using Larry Summers’ already-discredited excuse about lawsuits.

We own these companies.

We saved them from bankruptcy.

We can demand–as we’re demanding of the car companies–that they forgo their bonuses.

But instead, in an apparent still half-assed charade of coming clean, Geither still wants to pretend that’s why he’s bribing these banksters to stick around the collapsing house of cards.