Another Goldman Sachs guy to run US Treasury

[Saras]

Paulson Nominated By Bush to Replace Snow as Treasury Secretary

May 30 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush today nominated Henry Paulson, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to succeed John Snow as U.S. Treasury secretary.

Paulson has ``a lifetime of business experience'' and ``an intimate knowledge of securities markets,'' Bush said in a statement at the White House with Paulson and Snow at his side. He praised Paulson for his ``candor and integrity.''

Snow, the former chief executive officer of CSX Corp. became Treasury Secretary in February 2003 following the forced exit of Paul O'Neill. Snow traveled the country to promote Bush's efforts to cut taxes, win re-election and convince the public the economy was doing well.

While gaining praise for loyalty, Snow never won a role in Bush's inner circle, nor was his voice dominant in policy. Paulson is the latest Goldman executive to come to Washington: White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten worked at the firm in Europe and Robert Rubin, President Bill Clinton's longest- serving Treasury chief, was a former co-chairman of the bank.

Paulson spent two decades working as an investment banker in the Chicago office of the third-largest securities firm by market value. He moved to New York in 1994 to become chief operating officer. He joined trader Jon Corzine as co-senior partner in 1998 and the two executives overcame resistance to the biggest change in the 130-year history of the firm.

Under Paulson, who took over as sole chairman and chief executive officer at the time of the IPO, the firm's headcount more than doubled to more than 20,000, its reach extended to China and the dominant business shifted from underwriting and mergers advice to trading debt and commodities. Last year, the firm's profits jumped 24 percent to a record $5.6 billion.

The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.

Under Rubin, the US economy enjoyed arguably its best run in history; is there something in Goldman people?

Wiki says this about him:

Henry M. Paulson, Jr. ("Hank") is an American businessman, currently the Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, a large investment bank. He is reportedly in line to succeed John W. Snow as U.S. Treasury Secretary.

A devout Christian Scientist, he was raised on a farm in Barrington, Illinois. He graduated from Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School and succeeded Jon Corzine (now Governor of New Jersey) as the head of Goldman Sachs. His 2005 earnings are $29,800,000 (New York Magazine, Nov. 2005).

Paulson is an avid nature lover. He has been a member of the Nature Conservancy for decades and is the organization's Board chairman and co-chair of its Asia-Pacific Council. At Dartmouth, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Henry M. Paulson, Jr. is the current chairman and CEO of The Goldman Sachs Group.

Christian scientist and nature lover?

[DanS]

Out with Main Street business. In with Wall Street business. To be honest, I'm not so hot on that change.

Christian science still weirds me out.

Rubin was good. From what I could see, Clinton's office was chaotic, and Rubin would do things right and energetically without direction from Clinton's office. Bush's office is a lot more organized -- lot's more direction comes from the top. I wonder how these Wall Street managing partner types will fit in.

[DanS]

The inside spin from the WaPo...

Paulson Nominated as Treasury Secretary

By Fred Barbash and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 30, 2006; 10:39 AM

President Bush named Henry M. Paulson Jr. , chief executive of Goldman Sachs, as the new Treasury secretary this morning to replace John W. Snow.

Bush made the announcement at 9:15 a.m. from the Rose Garden, saying Paulson would be "the leading force on my economic team."

Paulson is the first Wall Street figure to hold the post during the Bush administration. Paul H. O'Neill and Snow were industrial executives. The appointment, which requires Senate confirmation, underscores the traditionally heavy Goldman Sachs presence in top economic policy jobs in Democratic as well as Republican administrations in Washington, represented in recent years by Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Bush economic adviser Stephen Friedman.

The administration is said to have been dissatisfied with both previous Treasury secretaries, believing that they could have done more to get credit for the administration for economic growth.

Snow informed the White House last week that he would resign after three years as the nation's chief economic officer. The secretary's decision was intended to bring finality to a process that has played out awkwardly in public over months as Snow's job security has been a regular source of Washington speculation.

Snow had first told then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. last December that he was ready to leave, although he would stay on through the State of the Union speech in January, according to a source close to Snow.

But the White House spent months trying to find a prominent Wall Street figure to replace Snow, only to run into reluctance by many to take the cabinet job when economic policy was being set inside the White House.

That left Snow hanging out in the Washington rumor mill even amid reports that the White House wanted him out. The Treasury secretary kept quiet through all this, but recently told the White House that he would stay in the job no later than July 3, according to the source close to Snow. Bush then fanned speculation that he would tap his close friend, former commerce secretary Donald L. Evans, by taking Evans with him to Camp David for the Memorial Day weekend.

White House officials, though, have been working on recruiting Paulson for months. He was always their first choice even back when they did not think he would agree to do it. Paulson had seemed reluctant to leave one of the nation's premier financial positions for what in the end will be no more than 2 1/2 years in the cabinet of a president whose political maneuvering room has shrunk along with his poll numbers.

But with Paulson on board, Bush believes he will have a messenger with great credibility on Wall Street who can help first deliver the message that the economy is fundamentally strong despite public misgivings and second push through a refreshed economic agenda in 2007 if Republicans hold onto both houses of Congress in the fall midterm elections.

Paulson, 59, has been a Goldman Sachs executive since 1974, pulling down a compensation package in 2005 of $37 million, according to news reports. He worked in the Pentagon as a young man, following graduation from Dartmouth College in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1970.

A birdwatcher who can often be found in Central Park with his binoculars, Paulson is known as a conservationist.

Snow was known for sticking closely to the White House line on economic policies such as tax cuts, unlike his independent-minded predecessor, Paul H. O'Neill, who eventually was pushed out for straying from the script too often. Yet while White House officials respected Snow, they believed he was not always the most effective spokesman for their policies.

Bush aides have been enormously frustrated that the economy is growing strongly -- gross domestic product was up 5.3 percent in the first quarter -- and yet polls show that the public gives the president no credit.

In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, 52 percent of respondents pronounced themselves optimistic about the economy in the next 12 months, but 60 percent of Americans disapproved of Bush's handling of it, the worst number for him on that question since he took office. And the same poll found the economy to be the No. 1 issue for those planning to vote this fall.

[Zevico]

What is a "Christian Scientist" anyway?

[Kidlicious]

Yet while White House officials respected Snow, they believed he was not always the most effective spokesman for their policies.

How the hell can you be an effective spokesman spouting out that nonsense?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Zevico
What is a "Christian Scientist" anyway?

These believe that illness is a result of lack of holiness. So they don't go to doctors but instead pray.