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Maybe they could be co-Treasury Secretaries?
Deborah Solomon and Michael Phillips have a great article in Saturday's WSJ about the Tim Geithner vs. Larry Summers Treasury Secretary bakeoff. They say Obama's advisers are split between the two. And they offer lots of color about the long and friendly relationship between the rivals. They met when Summers arrived at Treasury in 1993 as undersecretary for international affairs and Geithner was assigned to be his special personal assistant. With Summers' help, Geithner quickly began rising through the Treasury ranks:
Mr. Summers structured Treasury policy meetings as lively debates. But he had little time for those whose views reflected received wisdom instead of original thought. On occasion, his harshness made staffers reluctant to disagree with him. Not Mr. Geithner.
"Larry trusted Tim to punch holes in his logic when he needed holes punched," says a former Clinton Treasury official. During the current crisis, Mr. Geithner has often consulted with Mr. Summers.
At a party thrown when Mr. Geithner was promoted to undersecretary in 1999, Mr. Rubin told the gathered staff that what impressed him most was Mr. Geithner's ability to say no to Mr. Summers.
It sounds like they work awfully well together. The optimal solution might be to have both of them involved in the new administration's economic and financial policymaking. Which is what you'd get, more or less, if Summers were appointed to the Treasury job and Geithner stayed at the New York Fed.
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We need as Secretary of the Treasury someone who understands that US domestic economic policy operates in an international context, that US recovery depends on (and can lead) global recovery, and that the US needs to lead on the international coordination of economic policies and new international economic architecture that G20 finance ministers have just called for in Brazil. (For the great economist John Maynard Keynes' approach to these sorts of issues, which is highly relevant to today, see D Markwell's book on Keynes and international economic/political relations.) Like Obama said Friday, we need a “global response” to a financial (and broader economic) crisis that is increasingly global. Obama must lead that global response, and needs a Treasury Secretary fully equipped for this. The WSJ article is very encouraging that both Summers and Geithner have the approach and the ability to do this. If Obama chooses someone else, it is absolutely crucial that they do too!
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With hardly any sophisticated understanding of the salient features of economics, Obama could do little to subdue the financial horror.
Given time and the right advice from his group of advisors (co-Treasury Secretaries or not), he may be able to reverse the trend. But that would not likely happen in 2009.
If the burning economic problem is not settled in 2010, his political career could well be at stake.
(Tan Boon Tee -
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I wish we didn't have to get involved in the Summers vs. Geithenr or Summers & Geithner debate. It would have been so much easier if McCain/Palin had won. All we would have needed to do then was to steer clear of socialism for our economic well being and "Drill, baby, drill!" to insure energy independence.
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Let's make McCain/Palin secretary of treasury! (please..don't)
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