Technocrat hell [Updated]

If Treasury Secretary Geither had a political team, someone might have warned him that dishing out succulent, taxpayer-funded bonuses to incompetent bankers who have wrecked millions of lives might be problematic. But Geither does not have a political team because he is short-staffed because his advisors and assistants are stuck in the vetting process because Geithner’s boss wants to avoid another problem like the one Geithner himself brought him by not paying his taxes. Thus ‘the whirlygig of time brings its revenge’.

Many of those ubiquitous Voices of the Powerful are now heard in Geithner’s defense: he didn’t know (except he did); he wasn’t responsible (except he is); the holiness of sacred contracts trumps all (except it doesn’t); members of Congress did it (except if they did, no one knows who). President Obama’s defense lingered on the fact that Geithner is working so very hard (and works out at 5:30 a.m. daily—okay, all is forgiven!)

Meanwhile, as the Huffington Post has outlined, no one knows who killed the Wyden-Snowe provision that would have halted this outrage. If Obama is sincere about shouldering blame for the bonus debacle, he should be getting to the bottom of that decision and rethinking the employment of whoever—at the behest of which lobbyist—reached into the rush-rush House-Senate conference committee to erase the ban.

It would also be a good time to address the conference committee abuse that presents such perfect opportunities for corruption.

Only weeks into the new administration, an aroma of putrefaction emanates from Geithnerville, fanned by the rush to defend him. Obituaries are clearly premature as, we are told endlessly, Geithner has unique technical knowledge that makes him oh so valuable. Ho fucking hum. At least as important as knowing how to crunch numbers is having a clue about how this plays out to people chewing their pillows at night over the next mortgage payment. Geithner and Summers, who live in the bankers’ world and explicitly permitted the bonuses to go through, are total disasters at that, and Obama himself isn’t doing much better despite his trips to see The People out in Ohio and California.

At a certain point, the soothing confidence from on high will start to sound like detached indifference to reality. Before that happens, we need strong signals that more crap like the A.I.G. hogfest are out of bounds and will cost the perpetrators dearly. ‘Personal responsibility’, I believe is the favored phrase.

[Update] When the Prez has to appear on Leno to say your job is safe, your job is NOT safe. The trickle of devastating revelations on the A.I.G. rip-off threatens to turn into a flood of hogslop. Witness the Mother Jones item on key Geithner aide Patterson, Geithner's own completely unconvincing miasma of non-denials on CNN, dodge-ball as played by Senator Dodd and on and on. I see no sign of a waning of outrage over Ain't-I-Great-gate; if so, prepare the first political tombstone of the new administration, and none too soon.