Geithner and Stewart Don’t See Eye to Eye on ‘The Daily Show’

By Rachel Abrams
Timothy Geithner, the former Treasury secretary, with Jon Stewart on Wednesday. He wrote about the financial crisis in "Stress Test." The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

If there was one big takeaway from the former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s appearance on “The Daily Show” on Wednesday night, it’s that he and Jon Stewart do not agree on many things about the financial crisis.

Mr. Geithner appeared on the Comedy Central show to promote “Stress Test,” his new book on the events of 2008. “It’s excellent” Mr. Geithner said almost immediately.

Mr. Stewart has been critical of the White House’s bailout of Wall Street in the past and once called the government “the world’s dumbest loan shark.” While Mr. Geithner and other former administration officials have said that the bank bailout was their best option at the time, Mr. Stewart made it clear he sympathizes with the sentiment that it did not help Main Street as much as it should have.

Mr. Geithner and other former administration officials continue to defend themselves from criticism that the government’s rescue of Wall Street ignored the needs of homeowners, many of whom faced widespread foreclosures in the wake of the crisis. “Stress Test,” in part, seeks to explain some of the decision-making that went on behind closed doors back in 2008.

“The rescue itself, at its core, is a fundamentally unfair thing, except relative to the alternative of letting the system burn down,” Mr. Geithner said.

During the interview, Mr. Geithner employed his oft-used and perhaps drawn-out metaphor for the government’s response to the economy’s implosion, comparing the crisis to a burning plane with terrorists that was about to crash with innocent passengers — the American public — on board.

While Mr. Stewart conceded that the metaphor made some good points, he echoed the larger complaint that the government then rewarded the banks that were responsible for the crisis.

“Then it felt like you took the arsonists off the plane and you got them a massage and a steak dinner,” he told Mr. Geithner.

Only about 10 minutes of the heavy-on-debate interview actually aired on Wednesday night, and Mr. Stewart was clearly aware that the segment was a bit more awkward than usual.

“I honestly have no idea how we edit this,” he said at the end. The entire interview, which lasted about 42 minutes, can be viewed on “The Daily Show’s” website.