GRABBINGSAND

Been a very long time, I know. I’ve been busy.

The United States Secretary of the Treasury heads up the U. S. Treasury Department. The Treasury Department is “the executive agency responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States.”* Where other countries have finance ministers, the United States has a Treasury Secretary. Unlike some other Cabinet positions, it would appear that the duties of any specific Treasury Secretary is a moving target. The current Treasury Secretary is “responsible for formulating and recommending domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policy, participating in the formulation of broad fiscal policies that have general significance for the economy, and managing the public debt.”* Twelve distinct agencies, called bureaus, operate under the aegis of the U.S. Treasury Department. These include the U.S. Mint, the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of the Public Debt. Until recently, the U.S. Treasury was home to the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Post-9/11 legislation (Public Law 107-296) shifted these agencies under the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security, effective Spring of 2003.

The Secretary of the Treasury is fifth in the line of succession, right after the Secretary of State. The first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, who served 1789 to 1795. Since the position was established, the seat has been held by 74 different Secretaries.

Current Secretary: Henry “Hank” Paulson, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. Unlike my other Cabinet picks, Mr Paulson has been in the news so much of late that introductions are probably unnecessary. And so, I will instead reveal a secret hope that just once in his life, Paulson has turned to someone and said “You don’t have to call me mister, Mister, the whole world calls me Hank.”

Number One Draft Pick: Joseph Stiglitz. Who better to deal with a WTF financial situation than a Nobel Prize Winning econ professor who seems to really understand WTF just happen’d? And if he has a sense of humor, then all the better.

Here is where I am supposed to give you a single story that justifies my selection. Instead, I’m just going to let Mr Stiglitz speak for himself. An Oxford University lecture on our current financial situation — the “credit crunch” — is available for download via iTunes, free of charge. In just under an hour, Mr Stiglitz manages to explain the origins of this crisis, not only in terms of financial impact, but also where the crisis is affecting the world societally. Along the way, he explains how toxic debt polluted the world’s economies much in such a pandemic fashion.

So what were they doing? You have to scratch your head and say, “the regulators should’ve been asking a question like that.” They should’ve been asking “What were they doing? What were they thinking?” Well, the answer is really not that hard. It goes back to the concept of securitization. They were creating pieces of paper that they were selling to people in Australia, and France and elsewhere who were stupid enough to buy them. And it was based on the general principle that a fool is being born every minute, and if we can just find those fools, we can make money! And they found a lot of them!

To avoid a repeat of so much fool-mongering, Stiglitz encourages far more transparency and proposes the development of Financial Products Safety Commission — an idea first put forward in 2007 by Elizabeth Warren of Harvard, included in Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign platform and being discussed in a brand new article in BusinessWeek.

Alternate Picks: In this case, I’ve no real alternates. It’s been mentioned elsewhere that it might be a good idea to keep Mr Paulson in the role on into the next administration. While this might provide a certain amount of stability, this is a Cabinet position in dire need of an honest approach from a new direction.

West Wing Reference: While the Treasury Secretary is a pretty big deal in the real world, neither of the two fictional counterparts in the Bartlett administration got much airtime. The first appeared in one episode late into the first season and said nothing memorable. And the second appeared only in that awkward episode after Leo suffered a heart attack at Camp David.

Likelihood: The possibility is already being discussed, particularly if the White House goes blue in November — something that Stiglitz has predicted, actually. He’s been consulted often in the last month or so as an effective reality check against the mega-bailout (here, here and here, just to cite a few).

Already On The Roster: Agriculture and Commerce.

Next Up? Who knows?! Maybe Defense …