Our man Tim Geithner sat down for an interview with Katie Couric, and to no one’s surprise, he dropped yet another bomb:
Geithner acknowledged the government has had to do "exceptional things" – citing AIG as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"We have changed management aboard," he said. "And where we've done that, we've done it because we thought that was necessary to make sure these institutions emerge stronger in the future."When asked if he would leave open the option to pressure a bank CEO to resign, Geithner replied: "Of course."
Needless to say, more heads are going to roll at his hands. Geithner has already taken out Rick Wagoner of General Motors (GM), though that was a job the GM board should have done a long time ago. Yet he hasn’t yet whacked a bank CEO.
So who are you betting on?
Ken Lewis of Bank of America (BAC)?
Vikram Pandit of Citigroup (C)?
Shareholders like the big mutual funds do an absolutely awful job of keeping CEO’s accountable – you don’t vote out your golfing buddies, no matter how awful they are at their jobs. How did awful executives like Patricia Russo of Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and Ed Zander of Motorola (MOT) last so long? Simple – complacent shareholders that are too close to companies’ executives to stand up to them.
Tim Geithner is voting himself Chairman of Planet Earth with unlimited power to remove bank CEO’s. Maybe since corporate boards are too scared to use their power, he figured he might as well grab it.
2 comments:
Looks like Fascism to me.
It's no wonder so many banks are trying to give back the money and SC doesn't want it.
Yep, a lot of people are mentioning that particular F word. I can't understand why the government wouldn't welcome our tax dollars back - the thirst for power is the only explanation.
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