Obama Names CFR Member, Goldman Sachs Insider to Top Economic Posts

SHARON OTTERMAN
The New York Times
December 18, 2008

Pledging to create “a 21st century regulatory framework” to protect against future financial crises, President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday nominated three veteran financial regulators to top economic positions in his administration.

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“We will crack down on this culture of greed and scheming that has led us to this day of reckoning,” Mr. Obama said in announcing the appointments at a news conference in Chicago. “We have been asleep at the switch.”

Mr. Obama named Mary L. Schapiro, 53, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has come under sharp criticism for its failure to detect signs that major Wall Street banks were in trouble before the financial crisis, as well as lax oversight of the New York financier Bernard Madoff, who the authorities say has confessed to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The Madoff scandal, Mr. Obama said, “reminds us yet again how badly reform is needed when it comes to regulations that govern our markets.”

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This article was posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 1:42 pm

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