A Matter of Financial Security

05/28/09 Baltimore, Maryland The government has released Treasury documents surrounding Oct. 13, 2008 — the day the U.S. government launched TARP. After a long battle between Judicial Watch and the Obama administration, the government has finally coughed up some details of the infamous meeting between the Treasury and the heads of the U.S.’ biggest and most troubled banks. Oh, my… take a seat for this.

First and most interestingly, the documents show that Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gave the nine bailed-out banks NO CHOICE but to accept the government’s cash-for-equity deal. “Your firms need to agree,” his talking points read. “If a capital infusion is not appealing, you should be aware that your regulator will require it in any circumstance.”

What’s more, there’s all kinds of ridiculous Gestapo-style secrecy surrounding the meeting. Treasury officials asked for Secret Service assistance to keep the press in the dark. The White House launched a PR campaign to crush public fears of bank nationalization. And the coup de grace: In all the released documents, all remarks by current Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner are either censored or missing. After all, they have to protect their golden boy.

“How is it,” asks our executive publisher, Addison Wiggin, unable to resist, “that the Treasury secretary, chairman of the Fed and their minions have risen to the level of national security that the military has traditionally claimed?”

Ian Mathias

Ian Mathias is managing editor of The 5 Min. Forecast.  We discovered Ian working as a full time rock climbing guide and writing on the side. As it turns out, markets and global economics can be extreme too… at least enough to keep him around. Since working for Agora Financial, respected media outlets including Forbes.com, the Associated Press, Yahoo, and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. He received his BA from Loyola College in Maryland and is currently studying writing at the graduate level.

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