Maureen Tkacik in Slate, analyzes the reactions to Sheila Bair by the Finance Boyz and finds a lot of familiar misogynist tropes.

image from Progressive Majority Wisconsin

ScienceBlogger Mike the Mad Biologist is all over the story of how Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC, has been dissed and mistreated by the folks in charge:

Sheila Bair, Geithner, and the acceptance of male hysteria.

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Some (small) time ago I posted on the confusing logic of the government arranged shotgun marriage between Wachovia and Citigroup, which was going to be both government sponsored, AND at a price multiples lower than a subsequent cash offer put in by Wells Fargo.

Lambert's Great Meltdown book spurred me to follow-up, which lead me to this post at Bronte Capital providing detail I didn't know (no links though, grrr), and posted several weeks ago (presciently):

"The best hypothesis I came to is that Citigroup is going down and that Sheila Bair is trying to save it.

But what would you expect when Big Money gets two trillion NOW NOW NOW, with no plan, and no accountability?* Bloomberg:

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Timothy Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for U.S. Treasury Secretary, is seeking to push Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair out of office.

Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has argued Bair isn't a team player and is too focused on protecting her agency rather than the financial system as a whole, according to two congressional officials and a person familiar with his thinking. Bair has battled with Geithner and fellow regulators over aid to Citigroup Inc. and other emergency actions, making her enemies in the Bush administration.

“The idea of having an independent actor [which, legally, Bair is; last I checked, the FDIC didn't report to the Fed -- or Obama] on the stage with you who might not be singing the same tune can make you nervous,” said Wayne Abernathy, a former Treasury official who is now executive vice president with the American Bankers Association in Washington. “They recognize that she's a very independent person.”

It isn't clear that Obama would ask Bair to step down. Such a move would be fraught with political risk for the new administration, especially on Capitol Hill, where Bair's campaign to rework mortgages for struggling homeowners has won respect from top lawmakers, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank, his counterpart in the House. ...

There you have it. For Big Money creatures like Geithner, if you defend homeowners and households, you're not on the team, and in the Village, that's the ultimate Bad Thing To Be. Can't these guys listen to Elizabeth Warren? "Any effective policy has to start with the households"?

So, Geithner's the bad cop. Now, for the good cop, Obama:

Investment News

The $700,000 billion financial services industry bailout plan has a critic in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair, who said yesterday the initiative does not do enough to prevent Americans from losing their homes, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

At some point Versailles will work out that the well being of the big shots is connected to the well being of the little guys.