Neel Kashkari, Former Goldman Sachs Executive, To Head $700 Billion Bailout

WASHINGTON — The administration has selected a former Goldman Sachs executive to be the interim head of its $700 billion rescue effort for financial institutions.

Neel Kashkari, the Treasury's assistant secretary for international affairs, was selected Monday to be the interim head of Treasury's new Office of Financial Stability.

The designation was made by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was the head of Goldman Sachs before he joined the Bush administration in 2006. Kashkari, 35, will head the office created by the emergency legislation enacted Friday to fund the largest government bailout in history.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ An official says the administration has decided to pick a key Treasury Department official to be the interim head of its $700 billion rescue effort for financial institutions.

The official said Monday that Neel Kashkari, Treasury's assistant secretary for international affairs, will soon be announced as the interim head of Treasury's new Office of Financial Stability. The official asked not to be identified by name because the selection has not been announced publicly.

The 35-year-old Kashkari is a former Goldman Sachs Inc. banker, the investment giant once headed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The new office was created by the emergency legislation enacted Friday to fund the largest government bailout in history.

Comments

[wendynyc]

Kashkari looks like a brilliant, sincere and capable young man - my son also worked at Goldman for the last three years - great company - they hire only the best!

[darthdarcy]

You have got to be kidding me..?

Don't you get it the ex president of Goldman Sachs is funneling what will be billions in fees back to his old company after Paulson let Lehman bros. fail which was a Goldman Sachs competitor..

Paulson stole $700 billion from America to funnel $35-70 billion back into Goldman Sachs..!

Yeah their the best alright...

Willie Sutton would be really proud of Goldman Sachs..

[AKJM]

No you all gotta be kidding me! That guy looks like he just snorted a HUGE line.

[NicoleAnon]

Maybe I'm crazy but when taxpayers are giving banks $700 billion then I think we need more qualifications then he "looks" brilliant.

And Goldman Sachs does hire the "best" but the "best" at doing what exactly? I'm sure John Gotti only hired the "best" but I don't him working at the Treasury department.

[tbone99]

yeah looks are everything - why even bother having schools - just give the cute kids the keys to the kingdom and they can then tell the rest of us when to jump and and how high.

Everyone has something that they're best at. Goldman Sachs seems to be "best" at shake downs and basically what amounts to massive armed robbery .

[BetterAmerica]

I wouldn't be surprised if in a year from now it's announced that there will be an "investigation" into missing $ from the bailout. Does anyone expect them to do this right?

The more $ in something-the more $ that goes missing.

[asmabintmarwan]

Neel Kashkari is an Indian-American, whose parents migrated from Jammu and Kashmir. Originally from Stow, Ohio, Mr Kashkari, who is married, has a bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Kashkari didn’t take a conventional route into banking. He started out as an aerospace engineer at TRW, developing technology for NASA projects like the James Webb Space Telescope, the replacement to Hubble, which is scheduled to launch in 2013. Hope Mr "Cash-Carry" develops a vision for getting us out of the current financial mess.

[tbone99]

hey- its not rocket science.
Its just requires one stock broker to baffle us with bullshit while another one picks our pocket.

[Lala2]

Dude's 35 and suddenly in charge of 700 billion!
Hey, why not?
In three months Obama owns this.
A gift from the Wrecking Crew.

[WIpatriot]

Doesn't the "Office of Financial Stability" have a ring of truthiness to it?

[j89tg48]

Am I awake or am I dreaming..........after listening to AIG hearings today and possible connections with Goldman.........I cannot help but wonder when does the last shoe ever drop! I just shake my head in vain it appears as do many in our nation. How much now will he be paid to carry out the duties of overseeing the largest bailout in history. I do hope all will be in the open for us to see, after all it is our monies is it not? We should have a vote as to his salary. Better not hear of more monies being given to AIG with their selfish spending habits. There are not enough words in Websters dictionary to tell all of how I am processing what is happening within the ranks in Washington and the financial markets.

[maxfax]

Another Goldman guy, again? Is this the United States according to Goldman?

[000Jade000]

Things that make you go, Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

This new guy looks like a complete creep.

[RRK70]

I am just amazed that the man designated to carry out the bailout is named
"CASH CARRY"

[tbone99]

Another fox to guard the henhouse?. C'mon there's not many chickens left , but of course they must have down to the last feather...

[NicoleAnon]

Has Paulson annouced the companies he is going to hire to "manage" the worthless assets for us? They will make billions charging "fees" for this although it might not matter now that Paulson is buying worthless unsecured debt like credit cards and auto loans from banks - that money is gone for good.

I'm sure Goldman Sachs will be getting contracts soon and after Paulson gives them billions of taxpayer money this week he will "suddenly" decide that investment bankers can place bets against companies again! But don't ask Paulson to extend unemployment benefits because there isn't any money for that and he thinks "food stamps have solved that problem" and he would like it if they all left this country anyway because Paulson is a real patriot and he is doing this to make our country a better place.

[LMurphy418]

And this is supposed to be a good idea?

[GerryS]

a very telling post from last night by-
SavvySkeptic See Profile I'm a Fan of SavvySkeptic I'm a fan of this user permalink

in the middle of the posts, page 7. seems Savvy has met N ee l and he appears to be a cad.

what a suprise.

[SeagirlX]

I do NOT believe this is happening. I must be having a nightmare.

[AmazingChicken]

Isn't this one of those decisions for which there is oversight over Paulson?

[NicoleAnon]

There really isn't any oversight - Paulson can do anything he wants with our money and give it to any bank he chooses and he can even buy unsecured bad debt and auto loans. Although there will someday be two boards to provide "oversight" they can only "review" what he does but they can't stop him. And of course those boards aren't here yet because members of congress decided to leave so they could focus on their campaigns for the election and they're useless anyway.

Many of these banks made astronomical profits by targets neighborhoods with minorities and low income people and they also charge them more for fees from those loans - the bailout will not help those people at all. But at least The Candidate Who We Can't Mention pressured the black caucus to approve the bailout because he really wants to help us and always has integrity.

I just can't wait until he is President - everything is going to be so much better for all of us.

[sparkyth67]

I don't know if he can buy any unsecured BAD DEBTS but maybe he can but we wouldn't have all these bad debts had it not been for the law firm obama worked for suing lending institutions because they were not loaning enough to the poor who couldn't afford it anyway.Then we had the Clinton administration who allowed it to happen,and let us not forget Barney "sylvester the cat" Frank and Chris Dodd.Mccain at least did admit Chris Cox a republican needed to be fired but what will Obama do with Frank and Dodd.

[truthyguy]

Why not? Who better to head this bail out of Wall Street than someone who profited from the hedge funds?