The Volokh Conspiracy

Let's just say that Warren Buffett is no idiot.

Orin Kerr wrote,

Beware of bald guys in their thirties who have undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering, I say.

As opposed to, say, bald guys in their forties who have graduate degrees in law?

wm13,

Whom would Prof. Zywicki hire? Really, this paranoid style, in which our problems are due to a cabal of rich investment bankers, and would be solved if we hired some poor but honest university professors, is very tiresome. Vulgar Marxism but without the philosophical underpinnings.

It is a reasonable question as to whether so many GS people in the government is a source of bias--some have complained. e.g., the CEO of Lehman. The story ran today that Lehman tried to convert to a bank holding company but the Fed was not interested in suspending certain rules which would have been necessary... but when GS came knocking the Fed obliged. Now there is at least one other good explanation for this (timing), but we can't be sure.

It at least risks seeming improper.

Hedge fund manager John Paulson, who actually knows how to value and trade mortgage backed securities for a profit (and whose fund is up 19% YTD, or any one of the numerous other successful distressed debt investment fund managers, would seem like a much better choice. Jane Tavakoli also comes to mind. An expert and proponent of securitization, she also understands its abuses and limitations better than anyone, and forsaw this crisis at least as far back as 2002. Besides being a former nominal colleague, Mr. Kashkari's age (35 y/o) and inexperience with mortgage securities seem to make him a less than ideal choice.

Distressed, John Paulson seems like a smart guy, but he personally made $3.7 billion last year and is quite likely to be on track to do even better this year.

I cannot imagine a scenario in which the government pays Paulson enough to take the job that does not involve plenty of enraged voters.

OK, since it is high school night:

Kneel Cash Carry .

Get it?

someone not an investment banker? anyone who doesn't have friends and colleagues that he is going to have to make decisions on?