There was an excellent article by Joe Queenan entitled “Second Thoughts About Second Chances”WSJ June 15, 2013— which brilliantly implies that those who badly “bungle the job” should not be heavily rewarded with a largess of second chances.



Larry Summers is known for his altercations with others in his previous job incarnations. He was part of the group that steamrolled the CFTC in the 90’s and firmly entrenched the world in an unregulated OTC derivatives market—which played a pivotal role in bringing down the U.S. and global economies—promoting hyper-excessive leverage in the financial system. He was an advocate for the repeal of Glass-Steagall--which removed the risk management firewall in the banking sector.



There are two other very viable candidates mentioned as of late: Janet Yellen and Roger Ferguson Jr.



Ms. Yellen is extremely smart, a distinguished professor, a straight arrow, an experienced monetarist, former CEO of the San Francisco Fed, Vice-Chair of the current Fed Board of Governors—but most importantly, she was a strong advocate of risk management in the banking system early on.



Roger Ferguson, Jr. is brilliant, an experienced risk manger hailing from both the private and public sectors: as former CEO of Swiss Re (re-insurance) and as the current CEO of TIAA-CREF, the $350B pension entity. He was formerly Vice-Chair of the Fed’s Board of Governors and has recently been diligently involved in researching and publishing work aimed at stabilizing the banking system.



So: in this most important decision: who would be, in Mr. Queenan's parlance, the least likely to “bungle the job”?

