News
January 6, 2009
Courtesy of the Associated Press
President-elect Barack Obama's nomination of Timothy Geithner '83 for Treasury secretary was initially met with a stock market rally and media acclaim, but in recent weeks, confidence in Geithner's abilities has diminished as political analysts have criticized his reaction to the ongoing economic downturn.
Many critics have taken issue with Geithner's response to the financial crisis as the president of the New York Federal Reserve.
"Geithner's experience at the New York Fed, which initially was viewed as a plus, is now looking less favorable," Dartmouth government professor Linda Fowler said.
Some of the criticism is driven by a belief that the New York Fed is overly focused on the stock market in determining monetary policy, rather than on long-term consequences, Fowler said.
Fiscal conservatives -- such as John Berlau, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a non-profit, public policy organization that promotes limited government -- have widely criticized Geithner's response to the bank failures and questioned his expertise.
"Geithner's career rise has consisted largely of falling upwards after organizing bailouts, even if the bailouts fail or prove to be unnecessary," Berlau wrote in a December editorial on the Institute's web site.
The discontent is not limited to conservatives: Many mainstream and liberal publications have also questioned Geithner's actions during the fall bank failures.
"Timothy Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Treasury secretary, has some explaining to do," The New York Times wrote in a Dec.
