Kashkari: $700 billion was a wild guess, I need to relax

[peakishmael]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...120402016.html

He is walking through the smoke of a controlled burn in the Sierra Nevadas. He is talking about the people and the life he left behind in Washington. " . . . and it wasn't about politics, they were non-political. These people were killing themselves -- in Don's case, literally."

Kashkari was a 35-year-old business school graduate from a suburb of Akron, Ohio, who had gone to Washington in 2006 to learn how government worked. Then came the recession, and through a freakish set of circumstances, mixing pluck, cataclysm and luck, he was appointed by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson as the federal bailout chief.

Suddenly, he was in charge of $700 billion.

[Adeptus]

Re: Kashkari: $700 billion was a wild guess, I need to relax

Great story. It's somewhat what I expected from a 35 year old put in that position, but man can that 'kid' act in public and take punishment as if he's made of teflon. I'm still not sure Paulson appointed him because he had any confidence in him, surely there had to be a few hundred more qualified individuals around Washington. But the pick-a-solution-out-of-a-hat-at-the-last-minute does ring true. Love the supposed honesty of "$700 billion was a number out of thin air... political calculus!". He shouldn't have given away his secret, next time they'll drill him for details.

Poor bastard, but good for him for rising to the challenge, even if I don't agree with most of what he did.

Adeptus

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Kashkari: $700 billion was a wild guess, I need to relax

A born politician, the guy is pure, unvarnished walking narcissism. This is why I like Tim. He doesn't seem like he's constantly walking around looking in a mirror.

[LargoWinch]

Re: Kashkari: $700 billion was a wild guess, I need to relax

Poor bastard, but good for him ...

Right on...good for him :rolleyes:

Pimco taps Kashkari to head investment products

NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Neel Kashkari, a former Goldman Sachs banker who ran the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, has been tapped to head Pimco's new investment initiatives.

...

From here

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Kashkari: $700 billion was a wild guess, I need to relax

Ahahaha. No surprise there.

All smart businesses realize the value of the implicit bribe: hire ex-government employees so future government employees understand that they'll always have a cushy job waiting for them if they write policy which favors those companies.