Tim Geithner: A Good Hire -- Who Stayed About Three And A Half Years Too Long

Tim Geithner's Biggest Problem
FILE - In this July 26, 2012, file photo, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Banking Committee. A temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes is due to expire at the end of the year and hardly anyone in Washington is pushing to extend it. Neither Obama nor Romney has proposed an extension, and it probably wouldnt get through Congress anyway, with lawmakers in both parties down on the idea. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)
FILE - In this July 26, 2012, file photo, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Banking Committee. A temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes is due to expire at the end of the year and hardly anyone in Washington is pushing to extend it. Neither Obama nor Romney has proposed an extension, and it probably wouldnt get through Congress anyway, with lawmakers in both parties down on the idea. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

What are we to make of Tim Geithner on his last day as Treasury Secretary? For my money, the story that best gets at his essential Geithner-ness took place in the second half of 2009, when the recently-bailed out banks were back to making staggering profits even though unemployment was 10 percent. The public was furious over this disparity, which naturally caught the attention of Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. And so Emanuel gathered the president’s top political and economic advisers to figure out what to do about it.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot