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By Ben White (Read full story on Politico)
July 10, 2013
ANOTHER TAKE ON SUMMERS— Chris Whalen, Managing Director & Executive Vice President at Carrington Investment Services emails: “Summers may be too independent for the White House. It is useful to recall the situation when President Harry Truman picked Treasury Assistant Secretary William McChesney Martin to head the Fed in 1951. Truman wanted a compliant Fed Chairman to replace the courageous Fed Chairman Tom McCabe, who defied the White House and thus won back the Fed's independence from the Treasury following WWII. Instead, Martin protected the Fed's independence, not just through Truman's term but through the next four administrations.
“Summers also has a lot of baggage from the subprime crisis and his relationship with Bob Rubin and Alan Greenspan during that era. He may not be confirmed by the Senate. So if you assume that Janet Yellen, like most Fed Vice Chairs, is not really a viable candidate, then the default choice would be … Geithner. He professes not to want the job, but public service is really his only true calling. Geithner's personal relationship with Obama makes me believe that the Fed job is Geithner's for the asking.”
