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 the managing editor of Agora Financial’s Income Franchise, where he writes and researches about retirement, dividend and fixed income investing. Much of his work is featured in The Daily Reckoning and Lifetime Income Report – Agora Financial’s flagship income investing advisory.
Previously, Ian managed The 5 Min. Forecast, a fun, fast-paced daily look into the future of global markets and macroeconomics. He’s also worked in public relations, where media outlets like Forbes, AP, Yahoo! and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. If he’s not at work, you’ll probably find Ian on a bicycle, racing up and down the “mountains” of Baltimore County. Ian has a BA from Loyola University in Maryland.
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And not only that, but wtf was Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein doing at those meetings?
Representing the PPT?