In Lew of Geithner

Washington is all aflutter about the dangers of too much federal debt. But the real danger to the American economy may lie elsewhere, and in an all-too-familiar place. Four years after Wall Street precipitated the worst crash since the Great Depression, the nation’s financial system is again becoming enshrouded in uncertainty and a lack of transparency. At a time when the biggest banks are getting even bigger, and more opaque in their operations, the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law is still not fully implemented, two and a half years after enactment. President Obama’s own attorney general, Eric Holder, even implicitly rebuked his former Cabinet colleague, ex-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, for allowing the banks to get out of hand. The question now is: Does Geithner's replacement, Jacob Lew, have the right stuff to rein in Wall Street? In National Journal's first e-Book, In Lew of Geithner, Chief Correspondent Michael Hirsh concludes that it's far more likely that Lew will follow Geithner's path.