Betting for the Little People: Timmeh Geithner Departure Watch

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Apparently, Timmeh Geithner has told Obama that he may leave after a budget deal, citing family considerations.

I’d be singing “ding dong the wicked witch” if I didn’t know that his replacement will almost certainly be even worse.

But while we wait on his departure, I thought I’d offer the following two betting pools:

1) What bank do you think Timmeh will revolving door into?

2) Which will have a new head first, Treasury, or the Consumer Financial Protection Board?

FWIW, my guesses are:

1) JPMorgan Chase–and I sort of worry that Obama is planning a 1-to-1 swap like he pulled off with David Petraeus and Leon Panetta. After all, like CIA and DOD, JPMC and Treasury have effectively merged of late.

2) Of course, Treasury will have a new head first. In fact, I’d be shocked if Obama didn’t use a Timmeh departure as an excuse to put the CFPB on ice.

Of course, the only solution to all this is to appoint Liz Warren as Treasury Secretary. And also, to teach pigs to fly.

 

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24 replies
  1. DWBartoo says:

    Why waste time teaching porkers the theory of flight?

    Just launch ’em.

    “Ah yes, ladies and germs, this is a most momentous occassion, another American first!!

    How lucky we are to witness this great scientific stride forward, to be a part of the most exceptional nation that ever there was.

    The countdown has begun, the pigs are looking forward, the ground crew is excited, the President, First lady, the Vice President and the Second Lady, as well as the entire Congress are on hand … here it goes … three … two … one … lift-off. This is an historic moment …

    The Pig-a-pult has just flung our brave and patriotic porcine heroes into the sky …

    There they go!!

    Mission accomplished!”

    (Where they land, nobody know … but then, THAT is somebody else’s problem, down the road, doncha know?)

    DW

    • BoxTurtle says:

      Vonce der rockets are up, who cares ware they come down? – Werner Von Braun, as “quoted” by Tom Lehrer.

      Boxturtle (Think I’ll stick to Punkin’ Chunkin’)

      • DWBartoo says:

        Well, once upon a dark and stormy night, some little time ago, one of Mary’s comments seemed to surely prove the truth proclaimed by you and your unimpeachable witness …

        It was an entire flock, apparently, or a herd … as certainly they were, amidst all the flapping …

        Unfortunately, there was no visual confirmation, nor even droppings to confirm such passage.

        Someday, there may well be clear evidence of flying hogs gone wild, even as Bigfoot has been flinging DNA about with reckless abandon, if the edge-stream media may be believed.

        DW

  2. BoxTurtle says:

    I agree about Chase. He’ll be brought in to clean up. But I don’t know that Obama would get the replacement from Chase, everybody there is too tainted. I’ll guess he’ll raid the chamber of commerce.

    However, the WORST choice IMO would be Walsh at OCC. So I don’t rule him out.

    Boxturtle (Remember, given sufficient thrust a pig will fly quite well)

    • DWBartoo says:

      Good Heavens!!

      A officially flying pig has poked right through the Beltway Bubble and landed right smack dab on the square marked “Walsh”.

      It must be a miracle.

      Or, possibly, the pickled pate of bald, rambunctuous fate?

      Mysterious are the ways of porcine prognostication, especially considering that the pig in question will not have the guts to do it again.

      Let us thank our lucky pigs.

      DW (If memory serves, BoxTurtle, we have discussed this flight of pigs busyness previously, yet our suggestions seem to fall, unlike the propelled pigs, upon ears not attuned to the larger possibilities. Perhaps, were we to speak of silk purses full of gold being thrust heavenward, we might find better “reception”? Parenthetically speaking, of … coarse.)

  3. emptywheel says:

    I think I’m moving half my money from the “Jamie Dimon” square to the “Jeff Immelt” square.

    Because in that case you’d have someone who had been bailed out in the crash AND someone who sends jobs to China. Imagine Immelt shepherding the trade agreements through Congress?

  5. Arbusto says:

    Slightly OT, I just signed/donated to FDL pledge not to support nor vote for anyone who touches SS or Medicare. Obama just got one less vote by said pledge.

  6. BoxTurtle says:

    Thinking about it, there will likely be a bidding war for his services. He’s likely to be as influential outside as inside because he’ll have a direct line to Obama.

    Who’ve got the most to lose? Chase & BofA, I’d say.

    Boxturtle (And you know he can twist Obama’s arm. EVERBODY can twist Obama’s arm)

  7. rosalind says:

    put a fiver down on new President of the World Bank…gotta develop those developing Countries the Financial Elite way, ya know, and nip all that distasteful environmental concern breaking out amongst the client states in the bud.

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      I’ll add a fiver to rosalind’s bet.

      As for piggies, it’s my view that if Liz Warren were ever appointed to Treasury, pigs and the rest of us would be so cheered that pigs would sprout wings and quite naturally fly. I might even levitate ;-)
      The ‘teaching phase’ would no longer be needed.

    • DWBartoo says:

      But, rosalind, I was under the depression that Hillary, who signaled her leave-taking earlier, was salivating … um … “interested” in the World Bank Presidency. How might she and her supporters react if Timmy waltzes into to HRC’s “rightful” place.

      And yet, your suggestion does make sense (and dollars as well, seeing that reader has added another Lincoln to the growing pile).

      Rally (sniff), going to an ordinary Bank, however exalted the “position” WOULD, clearly, be a step “down” for such a “player” as Timmy, and one may be certain that he and HIS supporters have far larger and grander plans in mind, doubtless global in scope.

      DW

  9. pdaly says:

    From the link David Dayden provides to the StopForeclosureFraud.com

    …The audit, which is released as a legal affidavit was performed by McDonnell Property Analytics, examined assignments of mortgage recorded in the Essex Southern District Registry of Deeds issued to and from JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and Bank of America during 2010. In total, 565 assignments related to 473 unique mortgages were analyzed.

    McDonnell’s Report includes the following key findings:

    • Only 16% of assignments of mortgage are valid

    • 75% of assignments of mortgage are invalid.

    • 9% of assignments of mortgage are questionable

    • 27% of the invalid assignments are fraudulent, 35% are “robo-signed” and 10% violate the Massachusetts Mortgage Fraud Statute.

    • The identity of financial institutions that are current owners of the mortgages could only be determined for 287 out of 473 (60%)

    • There are 683 missing assignments for the 287 traced mortgages, representing approximately $180,000 in lost recording fees per 1,000 mortgages whose current ownership can be traced….

  10. newz4all says:

    Wiretapping figures up for 2010

    The number of court-approved wiretaps rose 34 percent last year, though an unspecified amount of the increase was the result of changed reporting procedures.

    According to a report by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, federal wiretaps rose 82% in 2010 from the previous year while state applications rose 16%. Combined, 3,194 wiretaps were authorized — 1,207 by federal judges, 1,987 by state judges.

    The report says the increases resulted, at least in part, from enhanced efforts to ensure that federal and state authorities were aware of their reporting responsibilities. The report says a new procedure with independent reporting by judges and prosecutors resulted in more accurate numbers.

    http://news.google.com/news/story?pz=1&hdlOnly=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&ncl=dy6pW1qvKJ-oR3MxjnC_LqPpAwaxM&cf=all&scoring=d

  12. Garrett says:

    Mike Crowley has an odd non-correction correction to his Time story about Elizabeth Warren and CFBP, regarding this passage:

    “By pulling all this together” in a financial-oversight office, “someone’s going to be responsible,” she says. “Someone’s name is going to be on the dotted line.” She hopes it will be hers.
    Time

    His non-correction correction is that although

    Warren did not say this to me, on or off the record.

    it doesn’t matter, because what he wrote is

    It’s pretty obvious from the whole of my reporting around Washington that Warren would like to have this job

    conventional wisdom.

    The CFPB opening date of July 21 is coming up soon. That date makes it somewhat tempting to go with the longshot in the second.

  13. bobschacht says:

    …1) JPMorgan Chase–and I sort of worry that Obama is planning a 1-to-1 swap like he pulled off with David Petraeus and Leon Panetta. After all, like CIA and DOD, JPMC and Treasury have effectively merged of late…

    But we are now in an election year. How would it look to the electorate for Obama to name one of the biggest banksters to Treasury? That is hardly “change we can believe in.”

    Bob in AZ

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