Free Republic

A guy who can’t figure out his own taxes is supposed to fix the economy? This is the absurd rationale being offered by media figures such as Andrea Mitchell of NBC News for confirming Timothy Geithner as Obama’s Treasury Secretary after it was disclosed that he was a serial tax evader. He did his own taxes for a couple years and got into trouble, Mitchell chuckled. And everybody can relate to that, right? Mitchell is the one who deserves to be laughed at. This guy is supposed to be so smart we can entrust him with managing the entire U.S....

There is a certain whiff of familiarity about the attacks on Rush Limbaugh and on energy companies emanating from the Obama White House these days. History tells us that dictators and those with an authoritarian bent need enemies to distract their public. Hitler had the Jews; Mugabe has the white farmers; and Chavez has various U.S. “devils”. I could list more, but you get the idea. We now have the spectacle of the President of the United States declaring war on a talk show host who has exercised his right of free speech to criticize some of his socialist plans,...

U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner outlines the Obama Administration's plans for the economy while testifying before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in Washington, February 10, 2009. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner testifies before the Senate Budget Committee during a hearing on 'Policies to Address the Crises in Financial and Housing Markets' at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 11, 2009. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivers a speech in the Cash Room of the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, February 10, 2009. Geithner on Tuesday announced a plan to take $500 billion in bad assets off...

Tom Daschle, Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, may be that proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.Timothy Geithner’s chiseling was overlooked by a Senate more driven by fear that they won’t be re-elected if their constituents are all jobless than by disgust that a man who consciously avoided paying his fair share of taxes for years will be running the I.R.S. Then Obama immediately made exceptions to his executive order barring lobbyists from the executive branch by tapping Raytheon lobbyist William J. Lynn III to be Deputy Secretary of Defense and anti-tobacco lobbyist...

The Obama administration backed off Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement last week that China is “manipulating” its currency. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden said the administration has made “no judgment” on whether the Chinese have manipulated their currency, an accusation that would have international legal ramifications. “The policy of this administration is going to be to say to China, which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do. `You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that

President Obama’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is being urged to lay the foundation for “global governance” by considering “international taxation” measures to loot more money from U.S. taxpayers. The recommendation is included in the report, “The Global Agenda 2009,” which is being considered by the World Economic Forum (WEF), meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 28th - February 1st. The WEF is not an official government group but does include dozens of government, corporate and labor leaders at its annual meetings. Media companies such as News Corporation (parent of Fox News, the Fox Business Network, and the Wall Street...

Ask The Tax Guys Expert IRS Advice from US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithnerand House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY)Dear Tax Guys:I've had a lot on my mind lately, and when I was going through some old receipt boxes in my filing cabinet I suddenly realized I haven't paid my income taxes for the past 8 years. Am I in trouble? Please help! Continued

I'm really getting tired of saying this, but the situation surrounding Barack Obama's presidency would be funny, if it wasn't so sad. If you haven't heard the latest, supposed financial genius, Timothy Geithner, was confirmed by the Senate Finance Committee by a vote of 18 - 5 on Thursday morning. Geithner was nominated by Obama to be the new Secretary of the Treasury. This all sounds well and good so far, doesn't it? However, there is a little problem of Geithner being a tax scofflaw. Indeed, if it weren't for the fact Geithner was nominated by Obama for the Treasury...

Give Timothy Geithner credit. He has a story, and he’s sticking to it. Even if it’s not the whole story. When the treasury secretary-designate walked into his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday morning, he knew he would face questions, from Republicans at least, about his non-payment of Social Security and Medicare taxes in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Democrats seemed to have no interest in the topic, but some Republican senators wanted to know why Geithner accepted reimbursement from his then-employer, the International Monetary Fund, for taxes that he had not, in fact, paid. They also wanted...

"Madness is rare in individuals, but in groups, parties, nations and ages it is the rule" - Nietzsche This is the third time I have headed my post with that Nietzsche quote. This time, however, instead of using it to reinforce my position, I am going to juxtapose it against its uglier creature cousin that was created out of Obama's left leaning witches crew. The brew runs in the following way: "Financial health and virtue is rare in individuals, but in groups, parties, nations and ages it is the rule." The strategy used to destroy capitalism once and for...

What was he thinking? That is without doubt the question asked most often by nearly everyone looking into Treasury Secretary–designate Timothy Geithner’s failure to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes in 2001, 2002, and 2003. It’s certainly the question that will be asked at Geithner’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday. But it is also the question perhaps least likely to be answered to anyone’s satisfaction, because according to sources close to the confirmation process, Geithner doesn’t have an answer to that most basic question about his behavior. “His explanation was kind of, ‘I don’t know—it was stupid, obviously it was a...

The U.S. tax code is complex -- every taxpayer will concede that. But that does not fully explain how Timothy Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for treasury secretary, failed to pay more than $34,000 in taxes over four years despite alerts from his employer that he would owe the money. Mr. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has paid the money now. But a failure to pay taxes is at best poor symbolism coming from the person who would oversee the Internal Revenue Service. At worst, the non-payment is the type of conduct that could threaten...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama's choice to run the Treasury Department and lead the economic rescue effort disclosed to senators Tuesday that he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, a last-minute complication in an otherwise smooth path to confirmation.

This was Obama’s pick to save the economic rescue effort for the country and the guy cant even pay his freaking taxes but Obama saw him fit to run the Treasury Department. It continues to get better and better as the days go by. President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to run the Treasury Department and lead the economic rescue effort disclosed to senators Tuesday that he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, a last-minute complication in an otherwise smooth path to confirmation. Timothy Geithner paid most of the past-due taxes days before Obama announced his nomination in...