Apparently, the Goldmanati are concerned.
For starters, the new Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, never worked at The Firm. For a second, he’s not exactly got the confidence of the markets at the moment.
Indeed, so concerned are Goldman Sachs executives, that they have held a meeting. A meeting to discuss the demerits of Geithner’s putative bailout plan, announced on Tuesday.
Not just any old in house meeting either, but a roundtable of the firm’s 20 biggest hedge fund and private equity clients, including, but not limited to, KKR, Fortress, Bain, Perry, Putnam and Citadel. On the agenda: Geithner’s public/private plan to purchase toxic debt.
CNBC has the details. Among other things, those present were apparently particularly concerned about the fact that the plan was “weeks away” from completion. They didn’t think much to its effectiveness either, worrying that it did not tackle the root causes of the crisis.
Worse for Geithner, some present were “[worried] over speculation that Paul Volcker doesn’t have a more formal role in the process of coming up with a bailout plan.” Stinging.
Apparently, GS is even mulling producing a “white paper” on the problems.
They’ll mail it through to you when its done Tim, k?
Update: Goldman has denied the CNBC report - saying that the meeting was planned “weeks” before Geithner’s bailout plans were announced. Not that that necessarily changes what was discussed at the meeting…
Related links:
Martin Wolf: Why Obama’s new Tarp will fail to rescue the banks - FT
