US
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to name Neel Kashkari as the interim head for its new Office of Financial Stability. Currently, Kashkari is the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs in the Department of the Treasury. The OFS will oversee the $700 billion-dollar bailout program aimed at arresting the US economy’s precipitous slide arising from the
mortgage crisis.
Kashkari is one of nearly a half-dozen Indian-Americans, including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who have served in the Bush administration at Tier Two cabinet levels. But the new job clearly puts Kashkari in a different league altogether.
A long-time understudy and associate of Secretary Paulson going back to their days at Goldman Sachs, Kashkari was nominated as Assistant Secretary and confirmed by the Senate only in July of this year.
Some in the financial press have expressed concerns over Kashkari’s age and relative inexperience.
On a day when the Dow tanked 300 points an hour after opening and went below 10,000, a wiseacre on the Market Ticker forum wrote, “Seriously? The guy overseeing the $700 billion is named ‘CashCarry’? You really can’t make this stuff up.”
The last time the Dow was below 10,000 was 1999.