By the way, if you didn’t sign up for Morning Jolt, you missed bits like this in your e-mailbox this morning:

GEITHNER: WOULD YOU TRUST THIS MAN TO RUN A BAKE SALE, MUCH LESS THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT?
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has always attracted an intriguing mix of opposition from conservatives who figured he was in over his head, way too comfortable with the policies that established bailout nation, and oh, by the way, the guy offered lame excuses about not paying all of his taxes. A healthy number of liberals perceived him with suspicion, because hey, he worked on Wall Street, and thus he must be evil in some manner.
Well, now Geithner’s in hot water, and not exactly surrounded by passionate defenders. Last week, released e-mails showed that the New York Fed, under Geithner’s management at the time, asked AIG to refrain from disclosing details about payments it had made to trading partners in the wake of its $85 billion initial federal bailout in late 2008. The insurance giant’s move ensured large domestic and foreign banks, including Goldman Sachs, recovered their entire investments of $62 billion; no losses or “haircuts” went to the biggest of big-shots in the financial world. Geithner will get to explain the decision, particularly the instructions not to reveal details to the public, under oath before Congress.
David Sirota, writing at the Huffington Post, is a nice example of the Geithner opposition on the left; his laying out of basic facts is a useful citation for any anti-Timmy folk of any stripe: “Notice that the White House is not denying that illegal action may have occurred – the administration is only making the (preposterous) assertion that the regulatory filings of the largest corporation in the New York Fed’s receivership somehow ‘didn’t rise’ to Geithner’s level.” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, appears eager to play U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard to Geithner’s Richard Kimble. Wait, that metaphor doesn’t work; Kimble was innocent.
MarketWatch evokes past scandals that ended badly: “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should heed the lessons of Martha Stewart and Richard Nixon: It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.” The New York Post’s Terry Keenan writes: “Memo to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: If you want to survive another year in Washington, start channeling your inner Jimmy Hoffa.” So he should hide underneath the turf in the end zone of the Meadowlands?

Here’s my motto for the new product, which has me rising before the sun: If I have to write it, you have to read it.