WITH FRIENDS LIKE THIS...

Fascinating story in the Times today, front page, left lead, above the fold on Our Hero and his connections on Wall Street. Like much of the top stories of the past few years in what used to be a great newspaper it is long on hard speculation and gossip and soft on real facts. Anyway, to boil down the 10 columns, Our Hero has been, and remains awfully close to the people he was trying to regulate to the point that he was once offered the job of the successor to Sandy Weil as the CEO of Citigroup while sitting as the President of the New York Fed.

There are the standard clips to Provide "balance;" testimonials to the fact that Mr. Geithner would never place personal relationships or the thought of personal reward before his duty as a public servant. Nor is there any real hint as to what might have motivated Mr. Geithner to take some of the positions he has taken over the past five years from which he might have personally benefitted. On the contrary, at about 400 Large a year, Our Hero seems to have severely underpaid given the company with whom he broke bread.

But this wasn't a puff piece, far from it. Nor was it intended to inspire confidence in the director of the finances of the western world. This was a hit job...an elegant hit job but a hit job none-the-less. So the question is, as my friend Guido would put it, who let out the contract on Our Hero? An even more interesting question would be why, and the final piece would be why the Times Mob would allow themselves to be used as the contractor and who is the button man in the organization?

The Times and Democratic politics are pretty much joined at the hip. Disagreements with the policies of this Administration are hardly drawn in bright, vivid colors but in shades and degrees of gray. Then why, one may ask, would they choose to place the supposed architect of the Administration in such a tenuous position as to suggest...nay...imply that he might be severely conflicted as a result of his relationships and past actions? The Times has for quite some time been suspect as the harbinger of policy shifts and pronouncements for their political favorites, not only through their editorial pages but through their news reporting as well (these days, admittedly, the distinction may be without a difference). Is this a warning to Our Hero that his actions are being watched verrrry carefully and a scenario being created for his ultimate demise, or is it just The Times sending a message on it's own that you are not doing what WE want you to do and you better start listening to us and in particular our op ed page guys and girls a lot more closely. Either way, the ante in this game has just gone up for Our Hero in a most unpleasant way. I must admit, however, that the reporting delivered more tid bits from inside the New York Fed than have been revealed in years. I'd certainly like to be in a couple of senior officers' luncheons over the next few days.

In a related financial event today (understatement) the new CEO of GM announced the long-awaited restructuring plan that ills Pontiac as a brand and, if agreed, turns over ownership of the company to the UAW and the government. The equity guys and the bond holders get it in the neck but as Maria Caruso Cabrera said on CNBC today that EVERYONE knew the union would come out in first place, so shed no tears gang, the fix was in. Smart lady. Now it is going to be interesting to see if the bond holder fold and take at best 10 cents on the dollar for a company who's future chance of success is somewhere between unknown and who cares. Actually, it will be important to witness how brutal the Administration plans to be in forcing this "solution" down the throats of the Bond guys in relation to their possible tactics with the banks. Bets anyone.

Sorry, it's a slow day when one has to get John LeCarre-like and talk about non-deals, but that's life in the mid west.