Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s aides made millions on Wall Street

  While running for president Barack Obama made it a habit of bashing Wall Street for the recession that the country is now in. As president Barack Obama bailed out Wall Street. Now we may know why his  campaign rhetoric doesn’t match his actions as president. Aides to Timothy Geithner were busy making millions of dollars working on Wall Street.

Financial disclosure forms show that prior to joining the government, Gene Sperling, a senior Treasury adviser, was paid $887,727 by Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches to companies that included Stanford Group, the company run by Sir Allen Stanford, who has since been charged with fraud.

Mr Sperling’s compensation from Goldman was for work on a philanthropic project. His overall pay, including for his main job at the Council on Foreign Relations, totalled $2.2m in the 13 months to January.

The forms, which were first obtained by Bloomberg, showed that Matthew Kabaker, another adviser in the Treasury, earned $5.8m at Blackstone, the private equity firm, in the two years before joining the administration to work on plans to support banks and spur lending. Much of the compensation was in stock.

Lewis Alexander, another adviser, was chief economist to Citigroup before joining the administration; he was paid $2.4m in the last two years.

  Timothy Geithner, knowing the backlash that would follow if the American people realized who he was hiring, named these people as counselors thereby foregoing the confirmation process that certainly would have brought this to light.

  Considering that Barack Obama spoke in the strongest words possible during the campaign about the greed on Wall Street leading to the recession and then bailed out Wall Street as president it is understandable that Timothy Geithner slid these “counselors” in under the cover of darkness and sidestepped the confirmation process, but considering also that Barack Obama promised the most open, honest, and transparent administration in history the American people, and specifically those that voted for change, have to feel like they were had.

  This administration is no more open, honest, or transparent than any other administration in the past. While the administration condemned the greed on Wall Street in public, in private the same administration was hiring people who were part of the problem that the president claimed led to this recession. 

  I think that it is about time that investigations are opened up into Timothy Geithner, Barack Obama and the whole situation around the Wall Street bailouts.