Who Should Be the Next Treasury Secretary?
Posted at 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2012
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has made no secret that he has been in his position longer than he anticipated, so Simon Johnson provides his top five candidates for the job to “bring some fresh thinking to two vital issues: fiscal policy and financial-sector oversight.”
1. “John Reed, former co-chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc., has become a prominent critic of Wall Street. In February 2010, he testified in favor of the Volcker rule before the Senate Banking Committee and hit the ball out of the park.”
2. “Of all the presidential candidates of this campaign, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman was the only one to speak directly and clearly about what it would take to make the financial sector safer, including the need to press big banks to break up.”
3. “If you prefer a Democrat, I would turn to Bill Bradley. The former New Jersey senator was the co-sponsor of the Bradley- Gephardt bill that led to the Tax Reform Act of 1986. As one of the lead negotiators of that measure, he knows more about achieving historic tax reform than almost anybody.”
4. “Sheila Bair, former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., should be everyone’s first choice to lead the Financial Stability Oversight Council. No one is as clear-thinking and as compelling on financial-sector issues.”
5. “Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would also be a very strong pick. In his current job, he has stood up to special interests, despite his previous career as a partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.”
