Meeting Obama’s economic team
The challenges Tim Geithner and company will face
Obama's treasury secretary: Good news on Wall Street
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Barack Obama’s economic team is quickly taking shape, said Sebastian Mallaby in The Washington Post, and “not a moment too soon.” Led by experienced “pragmatists who excel at imaginative improvisation”—New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary and Larry Summers as the top White House economist—the team has a lot of work to do.
Well, the choice of Geithner “guarantees the smoothest transition from the current Treasury team,” said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. He knows all the major players, “knows as well as anyone which banks are vulnerable,” and has spent much of his career negotiating bailouts and soothing financial panics. But many of his views—on taxes, say—are “something of a mystery.”
The markets don’t seem to mind, said Daniel Gross in Slate. They “shot up nearly 7 percent” Friday afternoon, after Geithner’s name was leaked. What we do know about Geithner is that he has “a great deal in common with Obama”—age, number of children, experience living abroad. Also, Geithner, a 20-year “meritocratic bureaucrat,” is “a sort of community organizer for the financial world.”
So no “knock on Hank Paulson,” but can’t President Bush appoint Geithner now? said Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. We’re in a financial “Code Red,” and it’s obvious that “Bush can’t mobilize the tools to defuse” it. We need a new economic team, new ideas, and a shot of new confidence. The arrival of Obama’s team wouldn’t be “a magic wand, but it would help.”
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6 Comments
Posted by Michael G. Siegfried, Monday, November 24, 2008, 3:22 pm This looks like the type of team that so many expected when they cast their ballots. If Obama keeps this up and we just might dig ourselves out of this laissez-faire induced mess.
Posted by Brett, Monday, November 24, 2008, 4:52 pm "Meritocratic bureaucrat" If we have to have bureaucrats at all (and we do), then that's the kind that I like!!
Posted by Jesica, Monday, November 24, 2008, 6:03 pm Siegfried, 'laissez-faire' certainly did not get us into this crisis, do your homework. BO better start working on a new agenda that cuts taxes for EVERYONE, especially corporations, and does away with his college and healthcare welfare ideas before sinking this country further
Posted by Michael G. Siegfried, Monday, November 24, 2008, 9:09 pm Jesica, As you can see I use my full name and it's clearly shown so why don't you? The implication is that you must hide your identity and insult people in an attempt to divert attention from the basic issues involved. If you believe that something other than laissez-faire caused this mess it is your obligation to explain how this mess developed in a clear, convincing and logical manner -- and how to fix it -- rather than deal in condescending terms. If there is no reply on your part it must be assumed that clear, convincing and logical basis does not exist and that your comments are just a typical diatribe.
Posted by brian, Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 2:40 pm Yup another area where Obama with his deep business experience will just waltz in and fix in a jiffy. Amazing GWB and his team managed to steer the US economy out of the Dot Bomb recession (not all Clinton's fault, just as this mess isn't all GWB's fault) and 9.11, but are supposedly so unabashedly to blame here.
Posted by Pegmak, Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 6:24 pm Sorry Mr. Michael G. Siegfried, but I just had to comment. As a licensed psychotherapist, your comment to Jesica can be evaluated as a pompous, tedious piece of tripe. You pat yourself on the back for submitting your full name, as if anyone but you cares. You write that Jesica is not as forthcoming as you because she, like the vast majority of people who comment on the internet, does not use her full name. Since she is a female and might be sought out and endangered, I highly commend her for her intelligence in not putting her full name out for strangers to avail. No, Mr. Michael G. Siegfried, Jesica is more world-wise than you, and you are too ignorant to realize it. Are you some 60+ year old man who likes to attack females with the written word? Are you instead, Mr. Michael G. Siegfried, a 14-16 year old boy who likes to bully girls to make them feel bad? Do you sit at your keyboard looking for some female you can attack with your self-appointed “blog guardianship” attitude to banish her from the net?.....With respect to how Jesica answers or posts her comments, when did it become your job to direct her in her posting “obligation”?....Then the supreme pomposity occurs when you “dare” Jesica, not knowing her availability to the internet, to respond to you, oh great one, or be disdained by you and your “hopefully” vast minions…….Did Jesica hurt your feelings when she addressed you as merely Siegfried? Do you need the fullness of your name to feel adequately respected?......Every community provides counseling on a sliding pay scale, so it can be afforded by all. I offer this information to you in the hope that you will leave your viciousness behind the keyboard and seek assistance for a healthier life.
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