For those of us who are still having a hard time wrapping our brainpans around what exactly credit default swaps are and why they made the economy go boom, we may need some help understanding the meaning of President-elect Barack Obama's reported decision to appoint Timothy Geithner to what will undoubtedly be one of the most important and high-profile positions in the new administration, treasury secretary.
Fortunately, Portfolio's Gary Weiss published a very informative 5,000-word profile of Geithner, who currently serves as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in May — after the New York Fed-orchestrated rescue of investment bank Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase, in which Geithner was a central figure, but before the mid-September disintegration of much of Wall Street.
The piece, which ranges from critical to sympathetic, paints a nuanced picture of Geithner's meteoric career. He has a diverse roster of boosters, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, whose law firm was an early employer of Geithner, and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan (granted, neither of these will rock the world of change-hungry progressives) as well as former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
First, the good: Geithner is likely to bring an eye for reform to the new job.
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