Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, failed to pay some of his own social security taxes for years 2001-2003. The press is reporting the tax evasion, but it is how they are reporting it, and what they are not reporting, that matters.

timothy geithner 1

Timothy Geithner




Accuracy in Media’s Cliff Kincaid has tracked some glaring omissions. In The Big Money Behind Geithner, he says that in NBC reporter Kelly O’Donnell’s coverage of Geithner’s tax debacle, she failed to mention that Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and CEO of NBC’s parent company, General Electric (GE), is a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank.

This is pertinent because Timothy Geithner is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Also missing from the O’Donnell spot is a reminder that GE is receiving federal bailout funds – funds that Geithner will oversee if appointed Treasury Secretary.

The Washington Post  says that Geithner’s “lack of fame” is helping him get beyond his “tax mistake.” After all, WAPO indicates, Wall Street knows him well, but “ordinary Americans on Main Street,” haven’t a clue. They see Geithner’s “hiccup” eventually leading to a “smooth nomination.”

The Washington Post has a reason for not telling the whole story too. Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University president and board member of the Washington Post Company is also on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank.

As an “ordinary American,” I’m seeing a pattern. View a list of Federal Reserve directors here.

Being well-connected has advantages, not the least of which are influencing the media.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissenger, speaking from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on January 5th, trumpeted Barack Obama as being the “architect of a New World Order.” Representatives of both sides of the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, both American and Chinese, stood beside him as the market bell rang.

Timothy Geithner worked for Henry Kissenger in the late 1980s. You can read more about the present Treasury Secretary-designee’s Kissenger connection at Bob Feldman 68: Part 1 and Part 2.

But wait, still yet another connection: Kincaid’s Why are the Media Protecting Geithner? reports that Timothy Geithner’s father,  Peter Geithner, serves on the board of the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and  Peter Geithner oversaw the work of Barack Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, in developing “microfinance programs in Indonesia.”

The President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the Chinese-speaking Geithner is an associate of Henry Kissinger who can be counted on to convince the Chinese Communists to continue to buy U.S. debt and finance Obama’s massive expansion of federal government power.

That is why Obama and his fellow Democrats are putting so much faith in him.

In July 2008, Barack Obama addressed the crowd in Berlin, Germany:

People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time.

In November 2008, CNN delcared Obama ‘President of the World’ and, indeed, we may be seeing that idea turned into reality for us “ordinary Americans.”

Obama and Timothy Geithner, it seems, have plans to shore up America’s floundering economy with accelerated help from China. Kincaid mentions a book written by Bill Gertz, The Failure Factory: How Unelected Bureaucrats, Liberal Democrats, and Big Government Republicans are Undermining America’s Security and Leading Us to War. Gertz opines:

Beijing’s influence on the U.S. Government is so pervasive that most Americans remain entirely ignorant of the danger.� Gertz, a defense and national security reporter for the Washington Times, describes Kissinger as a lobbyist who exerts “enormous influence on U.S. leaders� and a source of multiple “misguided policies� that benefit China and other U.S. adversaries.

Kincaid characterizes Kissinger as a “lobbyist” exerting “enormous influence on U.S. leaders and a source of “misguided policies that benefit China and other U.S. adversaries.”

Perhaps this is only about Henry Kissenger adding to his government pension in a big way, but when you see the press hushed, perhaps on multiple issues, and possibly because of connections to Geithner, it should do more than raise an eyebrow.

Taking Geithner’s connections to China another step, Geithner, as the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank is a member of the Group of Thirty (G-30), as is Zhou Xiaochuan of  People’s Bank of China. The G-30 is described as a “group of international financial titans….” with Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chair,  at it’s head.

U.S. News & World Report says that “overall, coverage is relatively muted,” especially in light of “renewed questions.”

ABC World News reported President-elect Obama “came to the defense today of his choice for Treasury Secretary, saying that Tim Geithner had made an innocent mistake when he failed to pay $34,000 in income taxes several years ago.”

The CBS Evening News devoted one single sentence to the controversy, noting Geithner’s hearing “was put off until the day after the inauguration.”

Geithner is a big-time, world-class player. What else in Geithner’s tenure over the U.S. Treasury will not be examined or reported? It is a worthy question – and especially just coming off an election where so many lose ends were left lying.

GE also owns MSNBC and CNBC. The Washington Post Company also owns Newsweek and Salon.com. We’re whittling down the sources to tell the public what we have the right to know.

Related: Networks Gloss Over Geithner’s Past, Ignore Criticism