Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did not sound like much of a Treasury Secretary as he tried yet again to speak about the financial pains of the American people and express empathy. In a CNBC interview with John Harwood, Geithner claims he “doesn’t understand” how bankers can earn such large bonuses given these dark economic times (quotation my own transcription from the video):
“It’s very hard for people to understand how with unemployment at 10%, with millions of Americans on foodstamps, worst recession in almost a generation, that you can see compensation practices produce such huge returns to the people who were at the center of this mess, it is unexplicable [sic]. People can’t understand how that’s fair.”
Harwood rightly points out that Geithner should understand. After all, Geithner himself is a product of the same system. Harwood even asks whether greed is the problem. At this point in the interview, Geithner looks even more pained and confused:
“…I don’t understand it really. I really don’t understand it….it’s a complicated thing. I don’t know how to explain it. I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it.”
My question is…if you do not understand what motivates our bankers to do what they do, how can you believe you can offer the right remedies for wrongs and the correct incentives to do right?