Longtime Crisis Manager Pleases Wall Street, Mystifies Some Democrats

[Dover]

... As Mr. Geithner now prepares to take the helm at the Treasury Department, he faces a world financial system far from resilient, apparently resistant to policy responses, and where $100 billion is barely a down payment on the public monies thrown at today's problems.

At a time of crisis unmatched since the Great Depression, President-elect Barack Obama has put his faith in one of the world's most experienced financial crisis managers -- a man popular with the Wall Street leaders he's consulted with closely over the years, but a mystery to many traditional Democratic constituencies.

"He is a great choice," said Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive Officer John Thain, who was considered a candidate for Treasury secretary if Republican Sen. John McCain had been elected. "This will be one of the most important jobs in the new administration as we get through this crisis, and Tim understands markets and policies better than almost anyone."

But Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, said recently: "I always worry about somebody who has spent his whole life at the Federal Reserve....I just don't know him."

//snip

Mr. Geithner, whose father worked for the U.S. government and the Ford Foundation, was raised in the U.S., Asia and Africa. After college, he worked for Henry Kissinger's consulting firm, then joined the Treasury Department in 1988. He was a key international aide to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, then to his successor, Lawrence Summers -- Mr. Geithner's chief rival to become Mr. Obama's Treasury secretary -- and played a role in bailouts of Mexico, Indonesia and South Korea, and also in the decision to allow Russia to default on its debts in 1998...cont'd

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122731517445349785.html

[ixion]

1. ya know, what I don't get?

Why anyone would go to the CEO of a company that was just sold at fire-sale prices because it was insolvent and ask their opinion, as a "knowledgeable" source.

It makes no sense to me. This guy is an idiot that drove his company into the ground, but somehow he's a good source to rate the new treasury head?

I'd say his endorsement means the opposite of what he says.