This series of posts is about introducing to you some of the important names in our world. Not only are these people making [economic] history as we speak,  they are some of the brightest and most influential minds in the world. Lets find out if they are using their powers for good or evil… :) 

Also, by knowing who these people are, what the organizations are for which they work, and what they are doing you can better understand the news that you see/hear. Ultimately, as usual, more understanding will distinguish you from the average investor/human being who could be clueless both as to what is going on and how to react.

Without further ado, I present to you, Hank Paulson!!

Henry Paulson - Secretary of the Treasury

What is the Secretary of Treasury? - [bulletted for your easy consumption :D]

• The Secretary is the head of the US Department of the Treasury (see below)
• Basically, this is the part of the government that is concerned with all finance and monetary matters.
• The Secretary of the Treasury is not only a member of the presidential cabinet but also 5th in presidential line of succession meaning the role is a highly politically influential and influenced role. 
• The Secretary of the Treasury is the “principal economic advisor” to the president and plays a critical role in policy making by bringing an economic and financial perspective to government issues. 
• Specific responsibilities include creating and recommending policies (domestic and foreign) relating to finance, economy, and tax. 
• Hank must also oversee his department and make sure that it enforces its own policies and does everything in the best interest of the United States Government.
• Key Takeaway : Basically, this is the CFO of the US Federal government

So who is Hank and What’s Hank Doing? 

Hank is actually extremely experienced in the finance industry. He’s worked at Goldman Sachs (cream of the crop for  investment banks) for over 3 decades and even assumed a role as their CEO for several years. Needless to say, he has had an amazing professional track record  in the Wallstreet/finance industry and has had his personal net value…estimated at $700M. Whatever his reason’s may be (power…self fulfillment/actualization… wants to kick it with George Bush more…) he has now migrated his career to the government in basically the highest position you could possibly be relating to finance.

Hank is responsible for just about all the stuff you hear in the news lately. Not only has he been responsible for all the small (relatively!) bailout plans (Freddie/Fannie, AIG, Bear) you’ve been hearing about; he is one of the key orchestrators of the current “Master Plan” which is a $700 Billion dollar bailout of all the bad debt. While many points of this enormous plan are debatable, I would say the key takeaway is that this plan is more of an actual plan to proactively face this crisis as opposed to the above referenced smaller bailouts, which I would consider to be putting out fires. This is more like buying a firestation, or something…

So, Hank sounds like a pretty darn cool dude huh? Yay?? NAY!!! I won’t venture to actually make any sort of bold statement about him or his intentions but do think about this…Basically the big dilemma is that as former CEO of Goldman and wall street veteran Hank has a LOT of friends and connections in that area. Personally if one of my buddies went to the bigshots and then my company failed, I’d be all like - “Hey save me man! Remember that time I totally bought you a yacht for your birthday? I can’t do that anymore if my company goes down!” In any case, there’s definitely a concern of conflict of interest.

Even more interestingly, much of the economic mess we are in today is a direct result of investment banks (like Goldman) and their actions during the time in which Hank was CEO!

Well, there you go! Your crash course on the human being known as Hank Paulson.  We’ll be following up soon with an in depth looking at the other man of the a hour. A person I like to call Ben “Never once smiled or even looked remotely undepressed in a photo” Bernanke. Most all of his photographs look like the one below. The guy must be just stressed beyond all definitions of the word. Stay tuned.