Apparently in response to learning of the Libor rate rigging, Tim Geithner, as President of the New York Federal Reserve Board, sent a private memo calling for changes to improve Libor’s “credibility and integrity.”

Before anyone jumps on Geithner for doing way too little in response to what is on its face a multi-trillion dollar scandal, let’s remember that private memos have been the appropriate and honored response for courageous patriots throughout American history:

• Paul Revere has long been honored for sending a private memo to warn our Revolutionary forces that the British were coming;
• President Eisenhower’s private memo on the growing power of the military industrial complex made quietly made clear of these risks, which were thus heeded throughout the 20th century;
• Smokey the Bear’s repeated private memos have educated generations of wilderness-goers that only they can prevent forest fires.

Obviously Geithner should be in at least as high a regard as any of these American heroes for his private memo on Libor…