CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama has selected Timothy Geithner to be his Treasury secretary, putting the respected head of the New York Federal Reserve in a key role as the U.S. economy staggers toward recession, NBC news reported on Friday.
i think this may end up being one of his most significant cabinet picks. despite not enjoying HRC's hijinks during the campaign, she will be a real powerhouse in the cabinet, esp if she can build a relationship of trust and loyalty with obama. and talk about 2 for 1. she and bill will be globetrotting ambassadors for the US.
good for her. maybe now she can lose the ridiculous monochrome pantsuits.
i'm kind of surprised the richardson would take that post. seems like a big step down.
here's a good profile of geithner--his temperament sounds a lot like Obama's:
Indeed, if not for Geithner's periodic assertiveness, the '90s might have looked very different. At Treasury, Geithner often cast the deciding vote between Rubin and Summers, who was Rubin's deputy through much of the Clinton era. Summers was a restless type, prone to intervening aggressively if there was a chance it could succeed. Rubin, on the other hand, deferred decisions as long as possible and erred on the side of caution even then. As Summers once explained to The New York Times, Rubin believed "that there is something worse than Country X going down, which is Country X going down and taking our credibility and $10 billion of our money with it.''
In this mix, Geithner often made action possible by setting Rubin's tortured soul at ease. When, for example, the collapse of the Korean financial system in 1997 triggered a global crisis, Summers recommended an overwhelming response--a U.S.-sponsored bailout on top of an accelerated IMF package worth tens of billions. But the idea gave Rubin agita. It was Geithner who, according to one colleague, nudged Treasury toward a successful middle ground. Summers himself viewed Geithner as such a crucial counterweight that, the following year, he helped make Geithner Treasury's top international official.
In recent weeks, another financial crisis has ushered Geithner and Summers onto center stage. Geithner has helped guide the government's response from his perch at the New York Fed; many see him as the most pragmatic voice in a trio that includes Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, two men skeptical of market interventions. "The idea that the Fed did as much as it did--with new facilities, new ideas--the breadth of it is stunning," says one former Fed official.
5 comments:
CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama has selected Timothy Geithner to be his Treasury secretary, putting the respected head of the New York Federal Reserve in a key role as the U.S. economy staggers toward recession, NBC news reported on Friday.
i think this may end up being one of his most significant cabinet picks. despite not enjoying HRC's hijinks during the campaign, she will be a real powerhouse in the cabinet, esp if she can build a relationship of trust and loyalty with obama. and talk about 2 for 1. she and bill will be globetrotting ambassadors for the US.
good for her. maybe now she can lose the ridiculous monochrome pantsuits.
As I understand it, Ilsa, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits is a lifetime gig. Kind of like the Crips, but a bit more heart-warming.
This is exciting - I'll think she'll do a great job (though I'll miss her in the Senate). I'm also diggin what I'm reading about the Treasury pic.
Less excited about Richardson for Commerce. I think I've made my position on pranksters clear. But then again, who really cares about Commerce?
i'm kind of surprised the richardson would take that post. seems like a big step down.
here's a good profile of geithner--his temperament sounds a lot like Obama's:
Indeed, if not for Geithner's periodic assertiveness, the '90s might have looked very different. At Treasury, Geithner often cast the deciding vote between Rubin and Summers, who was Rubin's deputy through much of the Clinton era. Summers was a restless type, prone to intervening aggressively if there was a chance it could succeed. Rubin, on the other hand, deferred decisions as long as possible and erred on the side of caution even then. As Summers once explained to The New York Times, Rubin believed "that there is something worse than Country X going down, which is Country X going down and taking our credibility and $10 billion of our money with it.''
In this mix, Geithner often made action possible by setting Rubin's tortured soul at ease. When, for example, the collapse of the Korean financial system in 1997 triggered a global crisis, Summers recommended an overwhelming response--a U.S.-sponsored bailout on top of an accelerated IMF package worth tens of billions. But the idea gave Rubin agita. It was Geithner who, according to one colleague, nudged Treasury toward a successful middle ground. Summers himself viewed Geithner as such a crucial counterweight that, the following year, he helped make Geithner Treasury's top international official.
In recent weeks, another financial crisis has ushered Geithner and Summers onto center stage. Geithner has helped guide the government's response from his perch at the New York Fed; many see him as the most pragmatic voice in a trio that includes Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, two men skeptical of market interventions. "The idea that the Fed did as much as it did--with new facilities, new ideas--the breadth of it is stunning," says one former Fed official.
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