Should make for an easy transition from Paulson since he basically is at the epicenter of the big mess - so let's see what they come up with together Sunday night to take Citigroup (aka AIG 2.0) off the table.
- President-elect Barack Obama plans to announce his economic team on Monday as part of an effort to reassure markets and will name New York Fed President Tim Geithner his nominee for Treasury Secretary, NBC News has learned.
- Geithner was a U.S. Treasury Department official under both Bob Rubin and Larry Summers and has been with Treasury since 1988. Geithner's nomination is anticipated barring last-minute changes, NBC reported.
- Geithner has helped current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and his team manage the ongoing Wall Street bailout. (I'd say)
- "I would say the market is going to like it," said James Awad, managing director of Zephyr Capital. "[Former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry] Summers was more controversial. People will view it as a safe choice, an experienced guy. "There's a little bit of a question because he's associated with the bailout," Awad added, "and that's still a work in progress and not totally successful. There will be a few who'll be upset because he's associated with the TARP."
- He joined the Treasury in 1988 and worked in three administrations, serving as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1999 to 2001 under Rubin and Summers.
8 comments:
reminds me of the relief rally prior to the election. Buy the rumor/sell the news. Everybody is going to realize hes already associated with the bailouts and TARP and hence they'll likely questions his nomination.
Hmm, first time I can recall a doubtful Stonefox post - makes me bullish! You are always the optimist - china does $500B infusion and you say governments wont allow markets to go down, one of many.
I am going to take the other side of your view and say this market is technical driven - enough people will say that was a double bottom, reversal blah blah and we can at least rally a bit here.
Now we just have to wait til Sunday night to see another of our special sessions and what they do with Citigroup - all Paulson needs to say is we're buying all bad assets of Citi with the rest of our tarp money and boom, 2000 point rally. That's the problem with government interference, it can kill you either way.
Too easy being a short right now - way too easy. We'll see how it goes, it's just a casino anyhow. It is so detached from fundamentals so nothing to do but play the huge swings and smirk at the absurdity of it all.
the more I look at Paulson, the more jittery I get.
Hope things change for the better in '09. But with the Obama's choice - Tim Geithner - we got to keep our fingers crossed
-Sam
http://tickertoday.blogspot.com
still the long term optimists just don't see Geithner being the reason for the bottom. He could backfire.
The double bottom is huge and some news on C would also be huge. Mainly b/c CNBC/Welch sat their talking about how Paulson had pretty much quit so we're stuck with 60 days of no action. Moving on C would show that action has not stopped.
Sam,
Strange that in an effort to sell his friends bailout Paulson told us how imminent this money was needed. Then 6 weeks later he decides only half needs to go into the system and the rest can wait, instead of working on something for the next 2 months. Pathetic.
Really his job is done - via AIG he sent over hundred billion to offset CDS to Goldman and Morgan. He pushed into each bank $10-$25B, etc. He did his payback to the Street. Now when it comes to Main Street other people can worry about that... his dismissive looks at Sheila Bair say it all.
Another point, Obama is no economic expert but he is a consensus gatherer - he listens to a lot of people and forms his besst educated view from those VARIOUS views. Do you think Bush does this? Do you think he had ANY input or counterpoint to Paulson when he rushed to the office and said "I need to do this?" This is not a GOP vs Dem comment, this is a "smart person" versus "average intelligence and not intellectualy curious person" comment. My point being, Paulson was a 1 man show. Geithner will not be. If Geithner says jump, Obama won't be jumping - he is going to have multiple views and then Geithner will be the guy to execute it. That doesn't mean the group and final decider (Obama) will be correct. It just means a lot more people will have input.
SF,
same comment above re: Geithner
It does seem Paulson sort of just gave up. I know they have been working many hours and he is probably exhausted but in 2 months he can do nothing for the rest of his life.
He was able to sell $800M I believe of goldman stock tax free 2 years ago or whenever he joined. That was probably the best trade ever :) At those prices, and without taxes. He can put in 60 more days and create a framework for however the next 350B will be handed out.
TM... Re: "Obama listens to a lot of people and forms his best educated view from those VARIOUS views. Do you think Bush does this?"
My view of the Bush administration is that he has surrounded himself with 'yes-men' and doesn't broach opposing views. In fact, it has been noted that he doesn't read any papers, or watch the news. His sole source of info is through his own staff. Opposition is not accepted (Consider Valerie Plame and Colin Powell).
In retrospect, after the 'emergency' proclamation from Bernanke and Paulson that actually seemed to energize Bush, I'm impressed that all of a sudden, neither Paulson, nor Bernanke seem too concerned. My gut feeling is that Bush has pulled the plug on any further efforts to maintain the Banks and Paulson is doing what he's been told to do. The question that this raises, would be 'why?'
jegan
By the way.. If you haven't seen the movie 'W', it really was quite good. Even if a little scary.
jegan
I ran across Geithner's name back in July when I wrote a story about manipulation in the OTC derivatives market. I omitted many details about his personal history. He knew a crash was coming for years, because he helped engineer it. He is Paulson 2.0. They both went to the same schools, belong to the same power networks, have the same friends, and are enemies to a free market.
http://www.gamingthemarket.com/2008/07/using-crisis-to-monopolize-fed-otc_23.html
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