Empty Desks at Treasury

The complaint that Treasury can't get anything done because they can't get the place staffed has died down some, but this Washington Post article resurrects it.  The longer this goes on, the more bite it has--in March, there was some excuse, but by June, you should probably have at least nominated someone to be undersecretary for domestic finance.

One thing I haven't seen talked about much is the apparent problem with financial nominees who have substantial assets.  Now is not a great time to liquidate a frozen position in order to put the assets into a blind trust.  Combine that with the quasi-interrogations associated with today's newer, tougher, nominating process, and it's pretty hard to convince people to take the plunge.

That's hardly Geithner's fault.  But knowing he can't do much doesn't make us any better prepared to handle the current problems.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/05/empty-desks-at-treasury/17739/