He helped Tim Geithner steal your tax $$ for Wall St; now, he's at Goldman

[brentspeak]

Meet Goldman Sachs' new P.R. chief, former Obama Treasury Dept. counselor, Richard "Jake" Siewert Jr. The revolving door can be very profitable for those who assisted in getting taxpayers to pony up for AIG's 100 cents-on-the-dollar TARP payments to Goldman Sachs, etc.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/goldman-hires-a-new-p-r-chief/

March 13, 2012, 2:50 pm

Goldman Hires a New P.R. Chief

Richard Siewert Jr., the man Goldman Sachs has been courting to lead its public relations effort, has been officially hired, according to an internal memo from the investment bank.

snip

It’s not known when Mr. Siewert, a former counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, will start at Goldman. Mr. Siewert was also entertaining a job offer from PepsiCo.

Mr. Siewert’s decision to take the job is a plus for the big Wall Street bank, which has had its fair share of negative headlines in recent years. It will also bolster the ranks in its public relations department, where a number of people have left recently.

Mr. Siewert, who will also be given the title of managing director, will report to John F.W. Rogers, Goldman’s chief of staff. Mr. Siewert declined to comment.

[girl gone mad]

1. Barry Ritholtz is polling readers on where Geithner will end up.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/03/reader-poll-where-does-geithner-go-after-treasury/#comments

Lots of people think he will rebuff Goldman to avoid the appearance of scandal, but I'm not so sure.

[gratuitous]

2. Hmmmm

I think the financial big boyz are long past the concept of shame. If Geithner wants to go back to Goldman, and Goldman wants him for his expertise and insider connections, neither one of them will give a tinker's damn about the "appearance" of any scandal. After all, nobody's in jail, so everything they did must be legal!

And by the way, they all need a real long extension on their artificially low tax rates. If they're going to create jobs. Which they're going to do, oh, just any time now.

[bluestate10]

3. Weak argument.

The job that a person takes doesn't define that person's character. To argue the opposite is asinine. The best time to bring about meaningful change is when companies like Goldman are down. A high character person CAN join Goldman and make that company more ethical and in tune with clients.

[brentspeak]

4. Yeah, I'm sure this guy's mission in life is to make Goldman "more ethical" n/t