Obama's Treasury Secretary A Cursing, Skateboarding "Hipster-Wonk"

The Economist profiles Barack Obama's Treasury Secretary pick, who they approvingly describe as a "seasoned crisis manager":

Mr Geithner looks a lot younger than his 47 years (though not as young as he did before the crisis began). He skateboards and snowboards and exudes a sort of hipster-wonkiness, using "way" as a synonym for "very" as in "way consequential" and occasionally underlining his point with the word "fuck". In temperament he seems similar to Mr Obama: he is suspicious of ideology, questions received wisdom, likes a competition of ideas and is keenly aware of how uncertain the world is.

...

He is a quick learner: within a year of joining the New York Fed he could debate the intricacies of monetary policy with academic experts. But he will join an Administration rapidly filling up with heavyweights on economic policy, not least of them Mr Summers. Indeed, one of the big questions of the new team that Mr Obama is expected to unveil on Monday is just how Mr Summers, a brilliant but intimidating and sometimes abrasive figure, will fit in.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[chevyval]

Let it be true that change - real change is happening. I like him very much.
Let the dullness, sameness year after year be a memory - help hope happiness is
on the way - love it.

[poco767c]

Leaner and Meaner Government. The Obama administration has come to play for all the marbles.

[DannyEastVillage]

yes. and isn't "play for" a lot better than "steal"?

[MyTake]

This is not CHANGE!

The Reserve is a private bank which has never been publicly audited since it's inception in 1913. Those who are put in charge of the tier one Reserve positions come from the ranks of the shadow government (BB/TC/CFR) in the U.S.. So now this private bank controls government policy with this single appointment and yet it was the deregulated banking industry that has caused this global crisis.

I hope someone has the balls to point this connection out during the confirmation hearings. Every one of the appointments to date, except for Emanuel, has arrived from this shadow government roster.

I

[tedbear]

Although this might be change, I do agree that the Fed Reserve is a private bank and its chairman for all those years admits a few weeks ago that his idea of economics was flawed!!! Brother!

[shades3]

Isn't everyone getting just a little tired of the sterile euphimisms and empty phrases that have characterized the Bush Administration??

For example, the term "FLAWED" when referring to a gigantic screwup in their calculations which got not just the U.S., but the rest of the world THISCLOSE to the depression abyss!!
And empty phrases like "our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the fallen."
It will be a relief to perhaps have an Administration that knows what it's doing and is honest when it says that whatever they are doing might not work, but the reasoning was sound.
How different from Bush's attempt at transparancy when he said that AFTER HE MADE A DECISION, he would tell his cabinet and the public. Gee. Thanks.
WHEW!!
Obama picking support staff with actual abilities and credentials. Will we get used to having competent, talented people running the country, finally??

[EileneLepht]

The CHANGE is no more BUSH.

[canucklivinginUSA]

Crystal meth is not good for you. Get of the paranoia train

[NMO14]

And you stop sniffing this guy's shorts...

[kingmiller]

Tim Geithner is the guy. He represents all that money our parents put into our education. Summers will be a go to guy behind the scenes. As Geithner learned his craft under Summers, it should be a good fit. No worries mate, save for the crashing of world economies.­Maybe this is the guy to fix it!

[GetoffMylawn]

I like him already.

[jeniferdaniels]

just what we need...som­eone who knows how to defrag his own computer! yay!

[SunshineDaydream]

really - one n??? me too!!!

[DannyEastVillage]

hm. I'm sure he's an Apple guy.

[canucklivinginUSA]

I want an Apple Computer :(. My PC sucks

[SunshineDaydream]

now this is change i can believe in!!

[HamletsMill]

I say make this the major economic goal of this Administration over eight years: switch the role of the United States Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Let the U.S. Treasury create fiat money and lend it to the Federal Reserve to manage it in and out of the economy while they pay interest to the American people via the Treasury. Let the American people make money on the latest theories of Keynesian economics and not a group of private bankers who have been foxes guarding the hen house since 1913. It is time to do this. The taxpayers of the United States are now the lenders of last resort so they should make the interest money in the fractional reserve banking system. The Treasury should own stock in all the major American industries on behalf of the American people too from all the bailout money and get voting rights and board memberships too. Since the taxpayers have now bailed out the greed driven Investment Banks, the U.S. Treasury should now get to fund IPO's too and if a company hits it big, make the money for the American people by getting a third of all IPO shares at one cent per share. I call this new model Taxpayer Capitalism. The first Treasury IPO should be in a guillotine company. If the current direction keeps up there is going to be a lot of business in this product.

[JonathanStuartLeibowitz]

Now that's what I call ambitious. You're plotting nothing short of a revolution. I subscribe to most of that, but boy, don't expect a strong wind at our backs...

[jinjinpinti]

Hamlet'sMill: THERE you are. Loved reading your profile and the reading suggestions, but don't get to read many comments by you of late. Your enthusiam is deliciously infective.

[canucklivinginUSA]

Sounds pretty cool, but I don't think the US is ready for THAT kind of change. How long did it take the liberals to finally make universal health care a mainstream idea? Incremental change, buddy incremental change

[Fredo777]

I like this dude already.

[leevntheus]

Put another way, this fellow has keen eyes on the Rule of Reagan and its effects on our economic landscape.­He came into his own through the eighties, as Reagonomics began the long deconstruction of the NewDeal, culminating in what we have today.

This should be interesting.

[MizLiz]

Sounds okay to me. He and Rahm should get along very well.

[flymic]

seriously, if i don't make my first million at the end of this obama administration i'm going to be totally disillusioned.

don't SCREW me obama!!

[canucklivinginUSA]

Yeah, I am betting big on the futures market, lets hope this administration make it happen.

[leevntheus]

Lovin it. I'm 45. Snowboarder. Businessman. Listen to music my kids do. Back in college after 25 years. This is way cool.

A hip capabilateur from the bridge generation.

The single unique aspect of this age is the transformation from baby boomer to gen X without being either. Only those born between 1960 and 1968 really have the whole world view that comes from being raised on three channels, a daily newspaper, real textbooks, and selectric typewriters with carbon paper - then adapting on the fly to satellite TV, The PC, Windows, Internet, Blackberry, and TeaserRates.

While most of the new crowd only sees what is, this age sees where it came from, how it got here, and who the dinosaurs are that still control it all.

Its about time.

[GaGal]

I said much the same to my partner the other day. He's 45, I'm 44. We've grown from low tech to everything tech and run and maintain our own e-commerce site. We work within the music industry and both of us were well traveled long before Sarah Palin got her first Passport.

It's about time we have people who really represent us in office.

I'm hoping that they DO make a difference and it's not all hype.

[Big0725]

It's rare that I get stumped on vocabulary, but what does "capabilatuer" mean?

I've gone to Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com and neither of those have a definition. I even Googled it and came back with no definition.

I agree wholeheartedly with your explanation of the Bridge generation. We do have a unique perspective of these situations. And don't forget rotary phones.

[canucklivinginUSA]

It means able

[UWorlds1]

I hear you. I never identified with the boomers (I was born in 1962), or the Gen X group. We are way cooler. We are the bridge that brings the two together. I remember eight tracks, but can also design a website.

I am an African-American that never saw a colored's only sign, but can relate to the new form of racism (prison institution), couldn't go to vietnam, got out of the service before Desert storm. I always felt out of place. I feel like a tweener.

I am not a union person...b­ut not quite a triggle down theory person. Dabbled in drugs, but not the woodstock type of the 60's. Didn't witness the riots, but felt the affects of white flight. Use to play the Suger Hill rap and NWA, but knows nothing about the music of 50 cents. Loves Earth, Wind, and Fire; but not the remakes. And a like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

I am a middle child in my family, and the middle child in America. Good to see more middle children and the middle generation in the government. We can see things from all angles.

[NMO14]

Only those born between 1960 and 1968 really have the whole world view that comes from being raised on three channels, a daily newspaper, real textbooks, and selectric typewriters with carbon paper - then adapting on the fly to satellite TV, The PC, Windows, Internet, Blackberry, and TeaserRates.

There have been generations who have adopted to alot more significant and worthy change than what you describe..­.you can try to sell some of us on this pile of dung, but it ain't gonna fly.

[mirza]

A more interesting discussion of Geithner:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=acZ53mLfqWHs

[HappyIdiot51]

Ok. What do you have to say?

[ihavehope]

he's a shredder? right on!

Finally the next gen is here to fix what the old farts broke.

[NMO14]

The old farts broke nothing...­the next gen hasn't proven itself in any way, shape or form, and until it does, you will need to sit back, and get your acts together.

[DamageControl]

LOL get real, what accomplishment has the baby boomer generation actually had?

[DamageControl]

besides civil rights.