New Cabinet members
I'm soliciting comments on Clinton at State + Richardson at Commerce.
However I assume most of us are fairly familiar w. those two and I'm most curious to have someone tell me what to think about the new overlord of the US banking, insurance, and probably auto industry -- Treas. Sec. Timothy F. Geithner. He's currently pres. of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and worked in the Treas. dept. under Rubin + Summers. Other than that, I don't have much to go on about the guy other than this pic:
Since I haven't come across much informed commentary today, I'm going to try to form an initial opinion on the basis of the above photo.
First, that bit of a cowlick on the back right is a kind of scholarly sign and potentially speaks to his intelligence. Plus the transparently fake smile might mean he's a bit removed from social interactions and capable of occupying an objective viewpt. unencumbered by group-think. OTOH, there's a bit of a nasty turn to that smile -- almost a grimace really -- and his eyebrows are downturned in an unfriendly fashion. Perhaps he will merely sick to enrich his banker friends at the expense of the average taxpayer.
i.e. I'm finding it a little difficult to form an opinion of the guy. Apparently the DOW liked him since it rose today, but that means pretty much nothing. I'd to know what Geithner thinks of the structure of the current bailout and whether he's shown any prescience re the financial crisis generally.
This is an info. gathering thread, an invitiation to comment on our new Treas. Sec.'s appearance/other new cabinet apptees.
Update: I received a salon article claiming Geithner was indeed prescient re the recent crisis:
Before the storm fully broke, Geithner made heroic efforts to get Wall Street's biggest financial institutions to voluntarily come together to rein in the wild west world of credit swaps
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/11/21/geithner_for_treasury_secretary/
However It's also true from photos that are coming to light that the man seems to have no eyebrows to speak of:
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In fact I signed a petition against him.
So at least that bullet was dodged.
I don't know much about Geithner. At least he's relatively new. Summers was more of the same. He was also one of the guys who pushed deregulation in 1999.
--Of course not!
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)...at Treasury, right? The guy you called "more of the same" and the guy who was on the board of Citigroup during the recent debacles? :^)
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )I know a lot of trivia about the guy. I know Jim Cramer hates him, for example, which is likely to actually be a good sign.
But you know, I've had bosses, and I've never been a copy of any of them. Sometimes, you learn as much what you shouldn't do from the people you work for as what you should.
Truth is, I expect the job to be too big for him. But to tell the truth I can't think of anybody who you couldn't say the same thing for.
What this tells me is that Obama is going to try to fix the mess working within the bounds of the establishment. If he pulls it off, great. If not, he might be forced to throw the establishment out the window.
It sort of looks like one scenario is that we have a crash "landing" rather than a total crash, while the Chinese get their economy in gear. They have the money to do it. If they pull it off, it's the end of an era, ours, but we avoid a global depression.
--Of course not!
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| parent )His show, that is. He's in the entertainment biz, after all. I understand he blames Geithner for Lehman being tossed to the wolves. Truth be told, I think that's turned out to be the worst thing done during the entire crisis, though I'm not sure how much of it was Geithner. It was also understandable, given the worries about moral hazard and the bitching that was going on at the time. Out of the frying pan...
Anyway, the Chinese are screwed, and in a far deeper way than we or the Europeans. They have to pull off a readjustment an order of magnitude larger than our own, and we're probably going to undercut their Treasury holdings by printing ourselves out of this mess. That doesn't mean their long-term prospects are bad, but I think they're in for a horrendous 2009.
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )tho who knows what Geithner's role was. Glad to see you agreeing w. Krugman, tho.
He's also been criticized for his handling of JP Morgan buyout of Stearns. I think he pretty much handled that one and I've read a few folks say that Morgan got away with murder for only paying $2 a share.
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| parent ).
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )They have to pull off a readjustment an order of magnitude larger than our own
We'll see. I'm not seeing what you are, whatever that is. Can you elaborate?
--Of course not!
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| parent )But who buys most of it?
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| parent )he worked for Summers + Rubin.
Summers has been app.ted some unspecified senior advisory role. There's speculation he might take over Bernanke's position.
Any reason besides pushing deregulation that you signed a petition contra Sumemrs?
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| parent )but he seems to keep coming down on the wrong side of important decisions. He's also said some extremely stupid sexist things.
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )It shot up like a rocket on the news. Maybe that's because they sense Geithner will actually do something.
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)Since he's not another Clinton retread, we might actually be pleasantly surprised. I certainly wouldn't mind some good news there.
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)Even though all of Obama's picks obviously will be rubber-stamped by the Senate, it would be useful to gt this guy's thoughts and theories on the record before those truncated hearings begin imo. Part of that is making a record of what the Obama Administration thinks will help fix the economic crisis, but I also want to know how an insider will convince the people that he won't act the way Paulson has done once he gets hold of the notional (like that word, specially here) $350 billion or so left of the bailout treasure chest.
--Even a dead midget is far from light. - Confucius
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| parent )http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_F._Geithner
--The ultimate result of shielding man from the effects of folly is to people the world with fools. -Herbert Spencer
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| parent )on his left hand...it surely hints at some sorta extra-sensory powers, don't ya think?
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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--Even a dead midget is far from light. - Confucius
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| parent )Remember when the Treas. Sec.'s biggest challenges were keeping his mouth shut about a strong $ policy?
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| parent )that nearly every disaster movie I've ever seen has some would-be hero lunge forward and try to save everyone just before the inevitable impact with terra firma, there is something encouraging in the fact that someone would even take the job at this point.
I'm heartened that he may think he can level this crate out!
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent )you liked, what would you do? Remember that I am your bestest friend, I hope. I've got this start-up autorickshaw project that needs $100 mil ASAP before the monsoon season in Bangkok . . .
--Even a dead midget is far from light. - Confucius
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| parent )and government-subsidized gay marriage licenses!
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| parent )More or less in that order.
And $350B wouldn't be enough, unless I could spend it every two years, give or take.
--Of course not!
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| parent )...don't want to know the answer to that question.
--It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.
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| parent )