Here’s some Tim Geithner clippings:
- Here’s Bob Kuttner: “Geithner’s admirers span the spectrum from Republican financial mogul Pete Peterson to liberal Democrat Barney Frank. One can infer from his broad fan base three possible conclusions: Wall Street is so clubby and politically powerful that permissible policy differences just aren’t that great; or maybe Geithner is all things to all people; or perhaps, in a deep crisis, truly talented and effective people can earn broad respect. “
- Here’s Noam Scheiber: “In recent weeks, another financial crisis has ushered Geithner and Summers onto center stage. Geithner has helped guide the government’s response from his perch at the New York Fed; many see him as the most pragmatic voice in a trio that includes Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, two men skeptical of market interventions. “The idea that the Fed did as much as it did–with new facilities, new ideas–the breadth of it is stunning,” says one former Fed official.”
- James Fallows notes Geithner’s background in Asia issues.
- A New York Times profile from back in 2007.
I think it’s interesting that he’s a career civil servant turned political appointee, rather than a guy with a business background conscripted into government service. The financial crisis presents a difficult dilemma insofar as you want policy to be made by people who understand the world of finance, but you don’t want it to be made by people whose personal history in the finance world creates too many conflicts of interest or deep personal investment in the future of various bank executives. Geithner’s biography seem to walk that line appropriately.
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