Geithner: 'I'm Incredibly Angry'

Treasury secretary says he's sick of the criticism, mad at Wall Street
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 23, 2010 11:30 AM CST
Geithner: 'I'm Incredibly Angry'
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill, Feb. 3, 2010, before the House Ways and Means Committee on President Barack Obama's fiscal 2011 federal budget.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Timothy Geithner is often seen as the cool, calculating co-architect of various bailouts, and a friend to Wall Street, but that image is all wrong, he insists. “I am incredibly angry at what happened to our country,” he says. In an affable interview with Vogue—he begins by saying his friends will give him “shit” for talking to the fashion mag—Geithner says he’s actually a hot-tempered public servant, immune to the charms of fame or money.

Geithner’s angry about many things. He’s irked that some seem to blame the Fed for failures at companies it didn’t even regulate—“They all got dumped on us when they went bad.” He’s even angrier with people who think he’s shilling for Wall Street, “even though I am constantly in a fight with them.” And, of course, he’s angry with the incorrigible banks themselves. “I don't think we can change Wall Street by exhorting and shaming,” he says. “We have to fix the rules.” (More Timothy Geithner stories.)

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