I came across this interesting piece from one of my favorite blogs, The Baseline Scenario, where the White House is apparently floating a trial balloon for a possible replacement for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner after the 2010 mid-term elections. As many of you know, I am not a Geithner fan because I believe — and he has stated in words, as well as by deeds — that his interests and policies are in line with Wall Street over Main Street. It is also telling that, if you examine the video footage, the president barely acknowledged Geithner upon entry in the House Chamber for his State of the Union address last week. The president has notably also elevated the Paul Volker/Austin Goolsbee economic axis, over the Geithner/Summers axis following the Massachussett Senate election. In addition, one of my seven prognostications for 2010 in my Year-end piece was the replacement of Geithner, so I’m on track on this one. Of course, these are important signals to continue monitoring. Read more from the Baseline Scenario below. . .
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The White House is floating, ever so gently, the notion that they are open to nominations for the position of “Tim Geithner’s Successor.”
It’s not clear if they mean this job is likely to be advertised formally sometime in 2012 or 20 minutes after the November midterms. Nor is it obvious if this is a real request for proposals – it could be just an effort to make critics “put up or shut up.”
Fortunately, there is an entirely plausible successor already in waiting, ready now or whenever the president finally realizes the need to fundamentally change banking policy. Read more from The Baseline Scenario here.