Praise for Obama’s Treasury pick

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board seemed happy enough with the choice of New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner to lead the Treasury Department, dubbing him “secretary of bailouts” and suggesting he “knows as well as anyone which banks are vulnerable and likely to threaten the larger financial system.” The editorial went on: “Mr. Geithner’s political style is to listen first, which by itself makes him a better choice than Harvard economist Larry Summers, who would find a way to condescend to Albert Einstein.”

11 Comments

  1. Maggotpunk
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 6:06 am | Permalink

    As long as he’s not another Friedman flunky he’ll be an improvement.

  2. bth
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 8:12 am | Permalink

    Paulson certainly has not inspired confidence.

  3. Phantom
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 9:09 am | Permalink

    Guess today they’re back to buying the bad debt directly. Sure can tell bush is at the wheel, zig zagging all over the place.

  4. SolDevVB
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 9:21 am | Permalink

    Bush? Paulson has complete control over the money. Huge mistake if you ask me, but to blame Bush again, that is just silly.

  5. Rage
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 10:43 am | Permalink

    For once, I completely agree with the WSJ’s deathly conservative editorial board, including the part about Summers.

  6. littlejohn
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 11:06 am | Permalink

    ALso, questions about his pick

    http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/business/25sorkin.php

  7. littlejohn
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 11:06 am | Permalink

    ALso, questions about his pick

    http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/business/25sorkin.php

  8. Rage
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 11:23 am | Permalink

    Interesting article, lj. I would be more alarmed if the criticism was coming from outside Wall Street, and if it wasn’t from anonymous sources.

    But, skeptic that I am, I’ll certainly keep it in mind.

  9. TomPaine
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 11:58 am | Permalink

    Dont know enough about the guy to know if hes good or bad

  10. WAR
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 12:14 pm | Permalink

    Albert Einstein was a lousy economist. I don’t recall that he made even one significant economic contribution.

  11. Phantom
    Posted November 25, 2008 at 4:31 pm | Permalink

    Looks like Gates is staying on, I really didn’t care for him.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081125/pl_nm/us_usa_obama_gates_1