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Comments

• [1] jennifer from manhattan November 24, 2008 - 10:08AM

  Of course Wall Street was happy about Tim Geithner. He's a known quantity who has been right here in New York with them and has been dealing with these guys intimately since he got the position at the NY Fed. He's totally on board with the bailout and knows all about its inner workings. No radical rethinking here. And really--who will be surprised when his stint as treasury secretary is over and he hops over to one of these banks as a managing director and starts taking home millions every year.

  I, for one, would have liked a fresh pair of eyes. I'm disappointed by the Geithner pick and I haven't been impressed by Obama's other picks, either. The man hasn't even been sworn in yet and I'm already lapsing into disappointed cynicism.

  
  
• [2] Bobby G from East Village November 24, 2008 - 10:27AM

  Yikes! These Wall Street geniuses really dug a big hole. The really scary numbers I read in Niall Ferguson's book is that in 2006 the economic output of the entire world was $47 Trillion. "The amount of derivatives outstanding was $473 Trillion, more than ten times larger." In 2008 I'm sure it is much worse.

  Maybe someone can explain to me how the so-called "value" of these derivatives gets paid off. It makes the $20 Billion Citi bailout look like a drop in the bucket that has little chance of making a difference.

  
  
• [3] Cory from Earth November 24, 2008 - 10:38AM

  How does Geithner signing off on half a loaf make him complicit in the decision to only do half a loaf? Talk about a totally illogical charge. What was he supposed to do, oppose half a loaf?

  
  
• [4] Richard Williams from Larchmont, NY November 24, 2008 - 10:43AM

  My sister-in-law, who works for Mellon Bank, lives two houses over from Tim Geithner. We applaud this selection. Very optomistic.

  P.S. I am an unemployed music teacher. Interviews with 22 districts since 2002. HELP!