November 24th, 2008

Today President Elect Barack Obama selected Timothy Geithner, 47, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as his Treasury Secretary. Geithner, who speaks Chinese and Japanese, as well as finance, is widely lauded as the right man for the job.

As president of the New York Federal Reserve Geithner has been dealing with Wall Street’s major players on a daily basis for the past 5 years, and they with him. Wall Street knows what they are getting with Geithner and they like what they see. Following the announcement of Geithner the Dow Jones Industrials went on a prolonged rally up approximately 300 points.

Geithner also has been working with current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on administering the bailout and has been involved at least tangentially in every major decision to date. This provides a level of consistency that the market is looking for.

Widely regarded as an economic centrist, Geithner will take over during the worst economic climate the US has seen since the 1930’s.

Obama also announced that Larry Summers will be leading the National Economic Council. Speculation is that Summers is in line to replace Ben Bernanke when his term expires at the Fed in 2010. (Source)

President-Elect Obama also pressed his plan for a major economic stimulus package to kick-start the economy, saying “I want to see it enacted right away. It is going to be of a size and scope that is necessary to get this economy back on track.” (Source)

Tags: Bailout, Economy, Geithner, Obama, Paulson, Summers
Posted in Economy, Politics, news |

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