Jimmy Cayne's Profanity-Laced Tirade Against Geithner

Here's former Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne's view on Fed Chair Timothy Geithner:

"This guy thinks he's got a big d--. He's got nothing, except maybe a boyfriend."

And this:

"You're not an elected officer. You're a clerk. Believe me, you're a clerk. I want to open up on this f---r, that's all I can tell you."

This is according to a book excerpt obtained by the Wall Street Journal. House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, by William D. Cohan, is to be published in March, 2009 by Doubleday, a division of Random House.

Cayne, who is known for smoking marijuana and for playing in golf tournaments during some of the now-defunct bank's most trying times, is directing this anger at Geithner because of his role in not opening the Fed discount window before Bear Stearns collapsed.

Here is Geithner's reasoning for not coming to Bear Stearn's aid, according to the book:

"We don't lend to banks if we're not pretty comfortable with their financial position and how prudent they are," he said. "These facilities were not giving the dealers the same protections banks have. My own personal view is it would not have mitigated significantly the risk that Bear faced because they were in a position where they were uniquely vulnerable to the same kind of loss of confidence they faced and we would not have been lending freely to them no matter what. Who knows, you can't wind back the clock.