Citigroup's Top Economist Tapped For Treasury Post

[democracy1st]

WASHINGTON — Citigroup's chief economist is being tapped for a job at the short-staffed Treasury Department, which is at the center of the Obama administration's efforts to battle the financial crisis.

Lewis Alexander will become a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made. Alexander will work on domestic finance matters, the official said.

Alexander had worked at the Federal Reserve and also served as the Commerce Department's chief economist in the 1990s.

Geithner so far has battled the crisis with no key deputies in place. That's made for a rocky start for the man President Barack Obama put on the front lines of the financial crisis.

Treasury's handling of a $700 billion financial bailout fund has drawn fierce criticism from Congress and the American public. The government has put up hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars to rescue troubled financial companies, including American International Group, Bank of America and Lewis Alexander's own Citigroup Inc.

In late February, the government said it will exchange up to $25 billion in emergency bailout money it provided Citigroup for as much as a 36 percent ownership stake in the struggling bank, a move that could put taxpayers at greater risk. The deal represented the third rescue attempt for Citigroup in the past five months. It's contingent on private investors agreeing to a similar swap.

As a Wall Street insider from a bank that has been one of the largest recipients of government rescue funds, Alexander's appointment could raise some eyebrows. In December 2007, he was quoted as saying that while he believed the housing market would remain weak well into 2008, it was more likely that the economy would keep growing than head into recession, adding that the housing bubble was "correcting on its own."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/citigroups-top-economist-_n_176125.html


These guys are going down quick,trying to cover up all the illegal activity and fraud!

[w4rma]

1. Bah. (nt)

[depakid]

2. Lovely- yet ANOTHER failure at the helm.

[liberalsince1968]

3. Unfuckingbelievable.

[soothsayer]

4. and he's another ex Fed guy. surprise surprise.

abolish the fed!!!

[blindpig]

5. Naked disregard for the will and interest of the people.

The Money Party won the election, as usual.

[chimpymustgo]

8. That is it in a nutshell. Wake up, people!

[varelse]

6. Goodbye, 2012 term

:(

[Autumn]

7. God I hope not. That

is just wrong.

[democracy1st]

9. got a feeling this bs will stop,Geithner is on his way out

[Autumn]

10. From your mouth to God's ear

I just don't think there is any good in this. The sooner Obama kicks Geithner to the curb the better.

[JDPriestly]

11. Obama just lost the 2012 election.

The last thing we need is yet another proponent of the banking industry. Read Infinite Debt by Thomas Geoghegan in the April edition of Harper's. We do not need to shore up the banking industry. We need to shore up manufacturing and middle class/working class wages.

[aquart]

12. Oh. That's ...sad.

[KoKo]

13. Well...I guess it's "Circular"...must be some kind of deal made..sad..

Maybe Obama hopes they will all IMPLODE on each other with the weight of CORRUPTION..yet..never manage to take "HIM/Obama" down with the rot and filth.

I guess hope "reigns eternal..in the human breast." Obama didn't really get how bad it all was. He just didn't see it...or the price to pay to be a Dem President is like what Clinton found...you gotta pay your dues and give that pounds of flesh..and "we" (the Powers that Be) will give you a few programs to throw to the "Masses" that will be "Undone" when the next Repug Cycle comes in and works to undo all any Dem does to move forward. Two Steps forward and Three Steps Back is the Song of Democrats forever.