Obama to name Lawrence Summers National Economic Council Director on Monday

[Thrill]

NEW YORK – President-elect Barack Obama will announce the leaders of his economic team Monday, naming Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary and Lawrence Summers to direct the National Economic Council, transition officials said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Geithner, 47, president of the New York Federal Reserve, would be the top Cabinet official in charge of leading the administration's response to the global economic crisis. Word of his likely selection Friday helped send the Dow Jones Industrials soaring 500 points after several days of steep losses.

One top Democrat said John Podesta, a leader of Obama's transition team, had told Senate aides on Friday that Obama hoped for speedy confirmation so the new administration could get to work quickly thereafter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081123/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_cabinet;_ylt=AkYqyjLRtRC9CxDn5LObft6s0NUE

[Skwmom]

1. Wow, what a BRILLIANT man

Not if Robert Rubin or his protégé, Lawrence Summers, get to call the shots on the economy in President-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration. Both Clinton-era treasury secretaries deserve a great deal of the blame for the radical deregulation of the financial industry that has derailed the world economy. They both should, along with former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, perform rites of contrition and be kept at a safe distance from the leadership of our nation.

But it was Summers who most vehemently pushed for congressional passage of that drastic deregulation measure, the Financial Services Modernization Act, which eliminated the New Deal barriers against mergers of commercial and investment banks as well as insurance companies and stock brokers. Standing at his side as President Bill Clinton signed the legislation, Summers heralded it as "a major step forward to the 21st century" - and what a wonderful century it's proving to be.

It was also Summers who worked in cahoots with Enron and banking lobbyists, and who backed Republican Sen. Phil Gramm's Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which banned any effective government regulation of the newly unleashed derivatives market. The result was not only a temporary boon to Enron, which soon collapsed under its unbridled greed, but also to the entire Wall Street financial
community.

The only opposition from within the Clinton administration came from Brooksley E. Born who, as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, dared defy Summers and Rubin, as well as Greenspan. In frequent appearances before Congress, she warned that the burgeoning derivatives trading "threatens our economy without any federal agency knowing about it." In reward for her prescience, Born, a highly regarded legal expert on derivatives, was treated to scornful attacks from the old boys' network, led (again) by Rubin, Greenspan and Summers, who questioned her competency and insisted it was she who threatened the stability of the market.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/1...

I feel like I live in the twilight zone. No wonder the U.S. is tanking.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. "I feel like I live in the twilight zone."

I know how you feel. It just gets worse/darker every day.

[napi21]

4. I hope I don't sound like a Pub here, but why do we have all these

different Secretaries, Directors, etc? What is the difference between the Sec of Treasury and a Dir of Economic Affairs? I understand having different advisors, and many different opinions in an administration, but can't these positions be consolidated and have a Secretary with several assistants? It seems to me that things would get done a lot quicker if the govt was smaller.

[Skwmom]

6. I don't agree with that. There is a lot of tough issues to tackle.

We need more regulators, not less. And the more people there are, the more likelihood that ONE will at least get it right. But it looks like the economic team will be of the same mindset.

But I do think the waste and fraud needs to be cut. Plus, people that rip off the American govt should be subject to much harsher penalties and be thrown in regular old prisons, no special treatment.

[Hardrada]

5. Just more guys who should be in prison rather than in high office.

Makes one really despair of life.

[Generator]

9. Wait till you see his CIA pick

John Brennan-he's a Cheney guy. But haven't you heard you MUST trust Obama's judgement because goddamn it-you didn't run a brilliant campaign-he did. Which apparently DU has come down to as long as the DEM wins-who gives a shit what he does? All he has to do is win.

Who are YOU to question the great leader?

[Seen the light]

3. Dear God you have to be kidding

What has Obama been smoking since Election Day? I'm starting to feel punk'd here.

[Danger Mouse]

7. Yuck. I don't like this one.

[QC]

10. Why do you hate America? n/t

[ensho]

8. I will never trust Larry Summers - he is no friend to women

why they insist on using him is beyond me.