http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 58_pf.html
Understaffed Geithner can't keep up, critics say
By DANIEL WAGNER
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 5, 2009; 10:27 AM
...but one of them WON'T be Annette Nazareth...who announced she's withdrawn fromWASHINGTON -- For five weeks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has battled the worst economic crisis in generations with no key deputies in place...
...Critics say part of the problem is that Geithner is flying solo: Not one of his top 17 deputies has been named, let alone confirmed. And without senior leadership, lower-level Treasury employees can't make decisions or represent the government in crucial conversations with banks and others.
As Geithner strives to address the financial crisis, advance Obama's agenda and work with foreign leaders to stave off economic disaster, he's assembled a 50-person "shadow cabinet" of would-be appointees. Those people have received hall passes and can advise Geithner, but they lack any authority...
...At a Senate hearing Thursday about failed insurance giant American International Group Inc. _ which has received four separate bailouts totaling more than $170 billion _ Sen. Chris Dodd said he had asked Treasury for someone to appear, but that no one was available.
"I am not pleased that we don't have someone here from Treasury to explain what their role in this is," Dodd said.
Treasury officials contend that Geithner is receiving plenty of good advice, much of it from the 50 advisers already working there. But until Treasury gets some Senate-confirmed leaders, these people can't sign documents or make policy decisions. They can't even sit in their future offices...
...Among the harshest critics of Treasury's leadership vacuum is Paul Volcker, an Obama economic adviser and former Federal Reserve chairman who last week called the situation "shameful."
"The secretary of the treasury is sitting there without a deputy, without any undersecretaries, without any, as far as I know, assistant secretaries responsible in substantive areas at a time of very severe crisis," Volcker said. "He shouldn't be sitting there alone."...
...Treasury officials say the administration is taking extra care to vet possible appointees after embarrassing revelations about tax problems for Geithner, former Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle and others.
One likely nominee to a top Treasury post has not heard from the department for weeks, the person said, speaking anonymously because there has been no official offer. The person submitted voluminous information about taxes, domestic help and the like more than a month ago.
Former Treasury employees said that even the best lower-level staffers and top advisers can't do the work required of Treasury's top ranks. They can't explain Treasury's policies to a nervous public or give a fair hearing to stakeholders in the crucial decisions the department must make.
Fratto said Wall Street bankers complained to him recently that meeting with lower-level Treasury staff, rather than with senior appointees, wouldn't address their issues.
"They know that only the political appointees are the decision-makers," he said. "You can share information and work with people at the deputy assistant level, but the bosses just aren't there."...
...Treasury officials say they are very close to announcing their first slate of appointees, which will include some top-level officials outside the 50-person team now advising Geithner.
Treasury secretary's choice for deputy withdraws
Treasury Secretary Geithner's choice for deputy withdraws; department still lacks senior staff
Daniel Wagner, AP Business Writer
Thursday March 5, 2009, 11:52 pm EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The person Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wanted as his chief deputy has withdrawn from consideration, dealing a setback to the understaffed agency as it struggles to address the worst financial crisis in decades.
Annette Nazareth, a former senior staffer and commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission, made "a personal decision" to withdraw from the process, according to a person familiar with her decision.
The decision followed more than a month of intense scrutiny of her taxes and multiple interviews. No tax problems or other issues arose during Nazareth's vetting, said the person, who requested anonymity because Geithner's choice of Nazareth was never announced officially...
...Geithner's lack of a senior staff has raised concerns on Wall Street.
"This doesn't help confidence," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. "Geithner is stuck there all by himself trying to do everything. They don't have anybody confirmed, and Treasury is a big shop to try to run with one person, especially right now."
Wyss, who previously worked at the Federal Reserve, said the administration needed to have made a much bigger push before taking office to get people cleared to take over the top jobs at Treasury so that Geithner could assemble his team quickly.
David Jones, head of Denver-based economic consulting firm DMJ Advisors, said that Geithner's missteps in putting together a financial rescue program and his inability to assemble a team at Treasury were raising concerns about whether the new administration's economic team is up to the challenges confronting them.
"There is no question that Wall Street is losing patience," said Jones, who for more than three decades served as a top economist at a major bond trading firm. "If there was ever a time when we need an effective and strong Treasury secretary, it is now."
Jones said that investors had initially viewed the economic team that Obama was assembling favorably because it included experienced hands such as Summers and Volcker.
"There were high expectations for this team, but at this time of crisis, it doesn't seem to be functioning effectively," Jones said.
...maybe when Congress finishes partying with Brad Pitt who's in town to get a hummer from Pelosi, he can stop over at Treasury and give Geithner some management advice.
SMFH...Don't say I didn't say...
). Anyways, CRA and the government forcing banks to lend to people who couldn't pay helped usher in this problem and helped magnify it. The government had regulation in place of Wall St. through the SEC, but did not use said regulation. 
