Financial Wisdom and Wealth

Timothy Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, is expected to be tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to be the next secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Stocks soared late this afternoon when news reports first started to surface that Geithner’s nomination will be made official Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day up 494.13 points, or 6.5 percent. Supposedly Geithner is seen as a strong crisis manager and someone already steeped in the details of the financial crisis.

The parallels between Geithner’s story and Obama’s are uncanny. Both men are 47 years old and spent part of their youth living abroad. Both have succeeded despite unusual backgrounds. And Both men have developed a cadre of powerful and well-connected people who provide advice and guidance.

What people here should be lamenting is that Geithner is the most powerful Federal Bank chairman. This is actually worse than the CEO of Goldman-Sachs being in this position, since you now have TWO Fed guys running the show. Do you suppose this banker of all bankers will be advising Obama to cut spending or increase borrowing?

Geithner was also closely involved in the design and execution of the Bush administration’s $700 Billion banking bailout, which has proven less than popular with Congress and could become an issue during his confirmation hearing. Geithner’s selection seems to fit Obama’s pattern of selecting old Clinton appointees to his “Change” Administration.

We’ve seen this horror movie before, and this is where we are economically because of these type of financial neocons from Wall Street. We need oversight, not another Paulson hack to raid the Treasury on behalf of criminal CEOs for bailouts.

But it goes to show that a President who lacks experience would also choose a treasury secrety that lacks experience. We don’t need on the job training for a treasury secretary to get us through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression! …and we definitely don’t need on the job training for a president such as Obama who has not even served a full term in the United States Senate!

Obviously, Obama’s message of “change” is nothing new; it’s just the Clinton administration reincarnated!