Shelby: Geithner "Wasted" Senate's Time

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, on Wednesday lambasted Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's new plan for using the second $350 billion in financial bailout money.

Speaking on CBS News' The Early Show, Shelby said the plan, presented in a speech and a Senate committee hearing yesterday afternoon, "was vague, indefinite, opaque at best."

"First of all, there was nothing specific in the plan. He had nothing really to say to the American people, the Congress, or to the banks. He basically admitted this," Shelby said. "He wasted about three or four hours of the Senate's time and we want to know where the specifics are. And he doesn't have them."

"They are in unchartered waters, but they've got to do better than this," Shelby added. "It sounds to me similar to what [former Treasury Secretary] Paulson did on TARP one, and that's unacceptable to the Congress, unacceptable to the American people. They want transparency, they want to know who is going to benefit from this. Are they going to benefit? Is it going to make the banking system work?"

"I think on both sides of the aisle in the Senate Banking Committee, people were appalled that he had really nothing to say," Shelby said.

You can watch the whole interview below:

[windbreaker5]

Geithner must have forgot his lines from Bbbbbbbb Barney. Just another sorry Obama pick.

[p-syrus]

Shelby: Geithner "Wasted" Senate''s Time
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Clearly a senatorial prerogative.

[raflin0010]

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby wastes OUR time with both his presence in Congress and his hot-aired, rednecked approach to the Republican way. Get that man out of office in the next election!

[claydowner]

Mr. Geithner was not specific just yet because of the enormity of the problem facing America''s financial sector. There must be a complete audit of the major banks involved. Economists and journalists who follow the banking industry closely are saying that as many as five or six of the nation''s biggest banks could well be facing insolvency. The Treasury needs to find out the true extent of the disaster. Then those banks that are insolvent need to go through some sort of receivership and short term nationalization whereby the toxic assets are taken off their books by the federal government. Then overtime, the government must figure a way to manage and then sell those properties and the banks that will be allowed to stay in business back into the private sector. This is radical surgery but it was done in Sweden back in the 1990''s. Japan passed many stimulus bills back in the 1990''s but they never effectively got the toxic assets off of their banks books. This dragged down Japan''s financial sector and has been called Japan''s "lost decade" because stimulus bills did not improve the banks financial condition. Needless to say better to be a Swede banker than a Japanese one. This is the lesson for America. Republican deregulation of the investment banks caused all of our problems and Mr. Chamblis represents failed supply side economics. The Republicans just don''t get it that their entire economic philosophy has nearly wrecked middle class opportunity in this country.

[jxknowles]

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did a commendable job considering the complexity and severity of the task facing this country.

Senator Shelby should reimburse American taxpayers for the salary he took fraudulently for the last six years. He''s been on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs since 2003. He didn''t see this coming? What has Shelby been doing?

[boatdocster]

Senator Shelby is just one more loser who sat around and did nothing while Bush 11 TRILLION dollars on nothing, but now suddenly finds "leadership and supervisory skills" (Read - hammer any Democratic).

Another GOP loser that needs to be replaced in the next election.

[holalanemeir]

Alabama 48th in education...

Median household income 47th in the nation...

Poverty rate 16.7%

Either Mississippi, Louisiana, or Arkansas beat them by one or two points in any of these catagories. But hey, they are all reliably red states so it doesn''t matter. Did you hear banjos!??

[jstic-2009]

I wish all these neocon wingnuts would go back into their holes. I suppose loonyleft and buddies would prefer more ultra rich tax cuts, more deregulation of banking, Wall St., and others? These policies have worked wonders for the past 8 years, don''t you think? No political or economic policy of any one administration has ever done as much damage to a country financially than George Bush and his supporters. And I am talking about the history of the world here. So if you are a Rebpuclican, and especially a two time Bush supporter, you would be wise to keep your right wing fanatical comments to yourself, the American people see right through you now, game is up.

[mihann]

Geithner, a tax cheat the liberals love.

[kuching88]

Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, has been on the job less than a month, yet Senator Shrlby and other "Know-It-Alls" demand Geithner immediately produce a detailed plan to correct 8 years of non-enforcement and bad management.

Shelby''s demends are unreasonable expectations and cheap shots.