Geithner’s F-Bombs Don’t Scratch Goldman Sachs: David Reilly

08/07/2009 • Bloomberg

Political drama over how to regulate the financial industry, replete with an f-bomb-filled rant from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has obscured a huge unresolved issue: what to do about too-big-to-fail financial institutions. If anything, questions surrounding these institutions -- banks, insurers, brokers, and who knows what else -- have grown. This leaves a big question mark hanging over a vast swath of the financial system. In the meantime, it’s Christmas every day for the too-big- to fail crowd, with taxpayers playing Santa Claus. Just look at interest expenses that have been halved at banks like Citigroup Inc., thanks to loan guarantees and zero-percent interest rates, or the 46 $100-million-plus trading days racked up by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in the second quarter.