"Unfortunately, the regulatory regime that failed so terribly leading up to the financial crisis is precisely the regulatory regime we have today," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in prepared remarks at a Joint Economic Committee hearing today. That struck some as a little rich, considering the recent revelations about Geithner's own behavior during the crisis, and during the question-and-answer period, a messy exchange occurred after Representative Kevin Brady of Texas asked the Treasury secretary to resign, saying the public had lost confidence in his ability to do the job.

Geithner declined. “It is a great privilege for me to serve this president,” he said. "I agree with almost nothing you said." He then proceeded to point the finger at the Republicans, whose policies, he implied, caused the crisis in the first place. "You gave this president an economy falling off the cliff," he said, finger jabbing, ears turning pink. "Values of American savings have been cut almost in half. Millions of Americans are out of work. We're in the worst financial crisis in generations."

Brady interjected: “Remind me, Mr. Secretary, what post were you holding when President Obama took office?”

“I was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”

Right.

[Via Real Time Econ/WSJ]