This guy is notable because he qualifies as a Democrat who served as an appointment under Bush, a Republican (Chairman of the FR Bank of NY). The wiki entry on him hasn't caught up to his blazing trail because his 'early career' pretty much sums up his entire career.
He is the same age as Obama (something I remember because I too was born in 1961). Like Barry he spent much of his growing up years outside the US. His way into the 'national security establishment' (perhaps even CIA, like Barry) was through the Kissinger route, whereas Obama followed the Zbigniew Brezinski path. He isn't well-liked because he is not a lawyer nor is he a PhDed academic. He seems to be a lightweight who was at the right place at the right time and perhaps no one realized who he actually was. Wiki says, "Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia in 1908.[8] His father, Peter F. Geithner, was the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York in the 1990s. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by Ann Dunham Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.[9] Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as Vice President of Public Relations from 1952-1964 for Ford Motor Company.[10]" ------- As far as I can tell, this guy isn't really there to spearhead economic or fiscal policy, but to lead the charge to get China to help the US devalue the dollar (which is not that surprising because once the Cold War unwound, much of 'national security' has been tied most explicitly with foreign trade and the US's multiple imbalances). The most interesting thing about Timmy G for me is that he was 'attache' at the US embassy in Tokyo the year I came to Japan. His jump from IMF to Fed Res Bank of NY in 2003 is rather strange, but perhaps it has something to do with the 'national securitization' of finance after 9-11. It makes about as much sense as Barry ended up as a part-time lecturer on constitutional law at U. of Chicago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Geitner Early career Geithner worked for Kissinger Associates in Washington for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988. He went on to serve as an attaché at the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996–1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).[6] He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.[6] Summers was his mentor,[11][12] but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.[12][13][14] Treasury Secretary designee Geithner meets Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on November 25, 2008 In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.[15] He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001–2003) at the International Monetary Fund.[6] In October 2003 at age 42,[16] he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[17] His salary in 2007 was $398,200.[18] Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.[19] In May 2007 he worked to reduce the capital required to run a bank.[16] In November he rejected Sanford Weill's offer to take over as Citigroup's chief executive.[16] In March 2008, he arranged the rescue and sale of Bear Stearns.;[11][20] In the same year, he played a supporting role to Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, in the decision to bail out AIG just two days after deciding not to rescue Lehman Brothers from bankruptcy. According to some observers, Geithner severely damaged the U.S. economy.[21] As a Treasury official, he helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s[13] in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand.[14] Geithner believes along with Henry Paulson, that the United States Department of the Treasury needs new authority to experiment with responses to the financial crisis of 2007–2010.[11] Paulson has described Geithner as "[a] very unusually talented young man...[who] understands government and understands markets."[20] _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
