Geithner is Obama’s choice for Treasury secretary. There are several reasons to reject his appointment, although I think our current rubber stamp, do-nothing Senate will wave him through with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist.

He is in favor of the bailout, not just the current bailout, but the last five bailouts. There have been so many, I have lost track.

He was on the New York Fed Reserve, and it is under his watch that the financial industry ran off the rails. Where is accountability when you need it?

Wall Street loves him, which means that the crooks consider him one of their own-ready to turn on the money spigot. Obama’s treasury secretary should be someone Wall Street detests, someone who will make them howl with anger. I don’t know who, but not lap-dog Geithner.

Geithner is also apt to play with fire. In his confirmation hearing, he is claiming that China is keeping its currency undervalued. The Chinese are very prickly about all sorts of things, and this is one of them. Why would Geithner anger our largest creditor? If confirmed, he is going to have to beg them to continue buying treasuries, plus he is going to hope they don’t start unloading their trillion-dollar cache of treasuries.

Finally, there is this great article that takes Geithner to task over his failure to pay taxes. Now, I understand that people mess up on their taxes. But to earn so much money, to know that it is a complicated situation, and then to blame TurboTax for it, is downright disingenuous.

But, he is sure to be confirmed. Don’t worry, Timmy, just hang in there, smile a lot, say you’re sorry, and soon you will be in charge of our 35 trillion dollar economy. God help us all.

Update:

Here is a post from Larry Dignan at ZDNet saying how a guy who cannot handle TurboTax should not be Treasury Secretary. (1/25/9)