Today I’ve been asked a question that I’m not sure I have an answer for.
Will it look bad for a bank to tap into the Treasury Department’s $700 billion rescue plan, even if it is relatively healthy?
Last week, when I interviewed Tom Hoenig, the president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, he said the money was available to healthy banks that might want to shore up their capital as the economy takes a turn down.
Seems to me that tapping into the money shouldn’t paint an otherwise healthy bank in a negative light.
What do you think?
4 Comments
Who is Neel Kashkari who is in charge of this bailout package?
Not much information about him or any reasoning that he is the trusted and most qualified person to get the job done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neel_Kashkari
Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Kashkari was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in San Francisco, where he led Goldman’s Information Technology Security Investment Banking practice, advising public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions.
In other words – he comes from Wall Street. This could be good (knowledge of the problem) – or could be bad (part of the problem).
Thanks for the assist, bth.
Here is a link to a more complete bio of him from Treasury:
http://www.treasury.gov/organization/bios/kashkari-e.html
I understand the Wikipedia bio, but It still doesn’t answer the question; is he the most trusted and qualified person to get the job done?
Being in the Treasury Department for only two years doesn’t help matters, IMHO.
Maybe he is. For whatever happens, if the bailout goes well, this guy is going to be a figurehead in politics in the future. He will have a great future awaiting him if he is credited in solving this bailout. So remember his name. It just might pop up in the coming decade. The guy is young, only 35 years old.