[The Baseline Scenario] Tim Geithner’s Ninth Political Life

Did Tim Geithner receive his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury because he could serve as the culpable goy or because he is Jewish by marriage? In theory treasury undersecretary Stuart Levey works for Geithner but seems to take marching orders from the American Jewish Committee.

Tim Geithner’s Ninth Political Life

By Simon Johnson

In modern American life, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner stands out as amazingly resilient and remarkably lucky – despite presiding over or being deeply involved in a series of political debacles, he has gone from strength to strength.  After at least eight improbably bounce backs, he might seem unassailable.  But his latest mistake – blocking Elizabeth Warren from heading the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – may well prove politically fatal.

Geithner was a junior but key member of the US Treasury team that badly mishandled the early days of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and received widespread criticism (Life #1).  He was promoted as a result and thereafter enjoyed a meteoric rise.

[To read the entire article, click here.]

Sphere: Related Content