Obama-Summers Friendship at Heart of Next Fed Chair Chatter
Larry Summers "is not the best person for the job" as the next Fed Chairman, according to The New York Times Editorial Board. They go on to say that Vice Chair Janet Yellen is still the top candidate:
"But the group behind Mr. Summers does not give up easily. Composed of protégés of Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary who was a leader at Citigroup as that institution careened toward its serial bailouts, some of Mr. Summers’s supporters are now pushing the notion that neither Mr. Summers nor Ms. Yellen should get the top Fed job. The idea is that the supposed rivalry between them — fanned by Mr. Summers’s supporters — has consumed both of them, requiring a third candidate."
Related: Larry Summers: Too Wrong for Too Long to Run the Fed, Task Says
The Daily Ticker's Henry Blodget says of Summers: "I was very surprised that suddenly he surged to the forefront, basically the only thing I could come up with is he seems to be friends with Obama... he is embedded in this group that has basically been running the United States financial architecture for two decades now."
Aaron Task agrees, "[Summers] is friendly with the president or the president likes him, has an affinity for him, is the only reason that anybody I have talked to has said well that's why he might get the job."
Related: Yellen vs. Summers: Traders Placing Bets on Next Fed Chair
So if Summers is President Obama's pick, could he make it through Senate confirmation hearings? Watch the video above to see what The Daily Ticker crew thinks...
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