Time to Cash In: Geithner to Head Wall Street Private Equity Firm
Job destroying private-equity firms played a major role in the 2012 presidential campaign
Ex-US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama's key economic adviser since 2009, is joining private-equity firm Warburg Pincus, according to a statement on Saturday.
Geithner, who has spent the last 26 years in 'public service', will become president at the Wall Street-based corporate buyout firm starting on March 1st, according to a press release today from Warburg Pincus.
When Geithner left his post with the Treasury Department in January 2013, Matt Taibbi told Democracy Now: "He's the architect of "too big to fail. When this all blows up -- and it's going to blow up, for sure, because things can't continue the way they are right now -- people are going to look back in history, and they're going to say, "Who was to blame for this?" And Timothy Geithner is going to be the guy who designed this entire system."
\u201cGeithner got at least $500k advance for his book https://t.co/8RxYj3rhnk gets $200K/speech https://t.co/6NgrTcyFN6 so he had to "cash in" w/PE\u201d— David Dayen (@David Dayen) 1384618400
\u201cWho said Obama isn't corrupt? Timothy Geithner Named President of NYC Private Equity Firm\nhttps://t.co/rF8GrlS8FI\u201d— Ted Rall, the Actual Political Cartoonist & Pundit (@Ted Rall, the Actual Political Cartoonist & Pundit) 1384624016
\u201cAs seen on @maxkeiser's FB page: Timmy Geithner has a new job! "Too bad it's not making license plates!!" https://t.co/KnlcTHkyYH\u201d— Stacy Herbert \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfb\ud83d\ude80 (@Stacy Herbert \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfb\ud83d\ude80) 1384619963
\u201cWhat a surprise Geithner is joining Warburg Pincus! Goldman would have been too obvious.\u201d— Doug Henwood (@Doug Henwood) 1384612297
Politicoreports:
Private-equity firms in the financial sector played a leading role in the 2012 presidential campaign, with Democrats criticizing Republican candidate Mitt Romney over deals involving his firm, Bain Capital, that led to layoffs at different companies.
For instance, in May 2012 the Obama campaign ran an ad concerning Bain's role in the struggles of American Pad and Paper that featured former employees of the company criticizing Romney.
Defenders of the industry argue it can help turn around struggling companies, but its critics, as the 2012 campaign showed, point to instances where these leveraged buyouts and the efforts to nurse a company back to health can often lead to large layoffs.
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Romney Economics: Job Loss and Bankruptcy at AmpadLearn more: https://www.romneyeconomics.com With American Pad & Paper (Ampad), Mitt Romney and his partners took a small ...
