- #36
Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
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FlexGunship said:See, I used to feel the exact opposite; very strongly, in fact. When Geithner was nominated I thought it was the apocalypse. But he has a very practical sense of economic theory (oxymoronic?) which was not made obvious to the public.
I didn't know a lot about Geithner but I had faith in Obama.
Paulson may have done well from an "overcoming-personal-challenges" point of view, but he had a history of repeatedly saying the housing market was either stable, already at the bottom, or under control. Even when he chooses not to take action, he should've been able to do a better job of figuring this stuff out. Could I have done it? NO WAY! But I'm also not accepting nominations for Secretary of the Treasury. I don't, for a second, think he was anything but honorable and did his best on behalf of the country... he just didn't seem to do a very good job in retrospect.
Agreed. His record as Sec of Treasury was dismal before the crisis. In fact, his decision to allow Lehman bros to fail is what actually started the crash of the stock market. But his handling of the crisis was most impressive. He went to the President and Congress and did what had to be done - essentially asked for a blank check and absolute control. It took a lot of nerve and personal discipline to manage things as he did.
Also... he looks disturbingly like Sarek from the newest Star Trek movie.
Hey, even former Sec's of Treasury need work.