This election, the names at the top of the ticket may be the least important consideration as US economic conditions deteriorate.
The truly vital decision is who will become Treasury secretary and Fed chief. Both presidential candidates should offer a bit of transparency on whom they would place in these pivotal positions, so voters can make an informed choice.
The Democrats have Tim Geithner in Treasury and Ben Bernanke as the central banker, but both men have expressed interest in getting out of DC sooner rather than later. So who will replace them?
Lawrence Summers, the perennial White House insider, served as Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton and was an economic adviser to President Obama until 2010. But Summers oversaw and championed the repeal of Glass Steagall Act, which had kept banks’ balance sheets safe and separate from investment banks. Many feel the repeal led to the collapse or near-collapse of Lehman Bros., Citi, AIG and Fannie Mae.
Jared Bernstein, who was economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden from 2009 to 2011, is well-liked on both sides of the aisle, even though his economics are left of center.
A particularly interesting candidate is BlackRock head Larry Fink, who got huge benefits from quantitative easing and who reportedly is interested in either spot.
In Mitt Romney’s corner, you have Glenn Hubbard, his chief economic adviser and dean of Columbia’s business school; Gregory Mankiw, a Romney economic adviser and Harvard professor; and John Taylor, a Stanford economics professor, ex-undersecretary of state and the creator of the Taylor Rule — an interest-rate tool that helps central banks globally. All are very competent Washington insiders.
An outside-the-box pick would be the well-respected Sheila Bair, the former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who claimed Geithner’s selection for Treasury “was like a punch in the gut.”
The voters need to know the economic QB before the vote. Will it be Joe Namath or Mark Sanchez?