NY Times dissects Geithner's old boy network on Wall Street

This is an excellent backgrounder on Geithner's term at the NY Fed during the worst recession in decades. The Times walks through his deep relationships with Wall Street including the extensive ties to Citigroup who has been one of the worst hit companies during the meltdown. Actions that are fair to Geithner, Paulson and Bernanke are questioned by others including Joseph Stiglitz. Did the US pay too much for the bailout? Did Geithner steer business to Wall Street friends in the private equity market including secretive no-bid contracts? Do we really need the AIG bailout attorneys writing any more easy contracts or Wall Street that are potentially risky to taxpayers?

According to a recent report by the inspector general monitoring the bailout, Neil M. Barofsky, Mr. Geithner’s plan to underwrite investors willing to buy the risky mortgage-backed securities still weighing down banks’ books is a boon for private equity and hedge funds but exposes taxpayers to “potential unfairness” by shifting the burden to them.

The top echelon of the Treasury Department is a common destination for financiers, and Mr. Geithner has also recruited aides from Wall Street, some from firms that were at the heart of the crisis. For instance, his chief of staff, Mark A. Patterson, is a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, and one of his top counselors is Lewis S. Alexander, a former chief economist at Citigroup.

A bill sent recently by the Treasury to Capitol Hill would give the Obama administration extensive new powers to inject money into or seize systemically important firms in danger of failure. It was drafted in large measure by Davis Polk & Wardwell, a law firm that represents many banks and the financial industry’s lobbying group. Mr. Geithner also hired Davis Polk to represent the New York Fed during the A.I.G. bailout.

So while the Washington Post saw no evidence of Geithner being "a tool" of Wall Street, others are less convinced. While there are benefits to having people on the team who understand Wall Street, in this case when so much is at stake it just doesn't feel right.