Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unleashed a profanity-laced tirade on bank regulators at a private meeting last Friday, according to a Wall Street Journal report this morning. Geithner was incensed - at one point using the phrase "enough is enough" the journal reported -- over bank regulators' resistance to the Obama administration's proposed changes to financial regulatory system.
Geithner's venting was witnessed by an all-star cast of regulators including, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, Securities, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair
and Securities Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro.
The key issue was the role of the Federal Reserve in overseeing the financial system and its continued overhaul. Geithner and Bernanke both support keeping the Fed as the chief regulator; Bair and Schapiro argue that the U.S. economy should be monitored by a council of regulators.
Geithner was enraged, it seems, over a lack of consensus over the Fed's role. More from the WSJ:
"Neal Wolin, Treasury's deputy secretary, said Mr. Geithner told regulators 'they have the prerogative to express their views, but he wanted to make sure that, since everyone had agreed on the importance of achieving reform this year, everyone stayed focused on that goal.'
Government officials said Mr. Geithner had expected regulators to object to parts of the plan that threatened their power or authority, but Treasury officials appeared caught off guard at how much the criticism resonated with lawmakers."
Read the full story on Geithner's tirade at the Wall Street Journal: