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 Still puzzled by Henry Paulson's acceptanc to serve in the |
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Still puzzled by Henry Paulson's acceptanc to serve in the -- PHM - (357 Byte) 2006-5-31 周三, 10:00 (1088 reads) |
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作者：gui 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
for more equal rank with Bush's inner circle. Here is a article in today's wsj:
==========
New Recruit
Bush Taps Paulson as Treasury Chief
Goldman CEO Is Promised More Power Than Snow; Banker With Green Bent
A Big Test With the Dollar
By DEBORAH SOLOMON
May 31, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Reaching beyond his inner circle to recruit one of the world's most prominent financiers, President Bush tapped Henry M. Paulson Jr., chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to be Treasury secretary. The appointment comes as the president's popularity is sagging and the economy, though strong, faces a widening trade imbalance, a falling dollar and unsustainable growth in government spending.
To lure a reluctant Mr. Paulson, who has been at Goldman for 32 years, Mr. Bush and his new chief of staff, Goldman alumnus Josh Bolten, promised him more clout in domestic and international economic policy than either of his predecessors, John Snow and Paul O'Neill, had.
Among other things, the 60-year-old Mr. Paulson, according to a person close to him, has been assured that he will rank with the secretaries of defense and state in the Bush inner circle and that the White House National Economic Council, headed by Mr. Bush's business-school classmate Allan Hubbard, will hold its meetings in the Treasury building and that Vice President Dick Cheney will attend some of them. If they materialize, those would be significant changes for a White House that has tightly held the power to make economic policy, essentially turning the Treasury secretary into a salesman for tax cuts, the centerpiece of its economic strategy.
The successful wooing of a prominent executive who -- unlike several recent Bush appointees -- hasn't previously held a post in this administration could bring Mr. Bush some sorely needed credibility, both with financial markets and with the public. If confirmed by the Senate, as expected, Mr. Paulson faces a daunting set of challenges, both political and economic.
Despite a falling unemployment rate, steady economic growth and relentless cheerleading by Mr. Snow, the president's popularity -- and his grades from the public for his handling of the economy -- are sinking. His proposals to fix Social Security have flopped, and talk of tax reform has evaporated. Republicans now fear losing at least one house of Congress in the November elections.
Financial markets are jittery, uneasy about the resolve of a new Federal Reserve chairman to fight inflation, the prospect of further declines in the value of the U.S. dollar, and the possible ill effects on consumer spending of an end to the housing boom.
Under Mr. Paulson, Goldman strengthened its position as a Wall Street powerhouse with $5.63 billion in net income for 2005 and 24,000 employees. In the New York Stock Exchange's merger with the electronic trading firm Archipelago, completed earlier this year, Goldman advised both sides, had an ownership stake in Archipelago and owned seats on the then-private NYSE. One of its most prominent alumni, John Thain, was also in the middle of the deal as CEO of the NYSE.
Goldman has long provided talent for the highest circles of Washington's power elite. Former Goldman chief John Whitehead served as a deputy secretary of state in the Reagan administration. Robert Rubin, another former Goldman chief, served as a Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration.
Mr. Paulson's nomination was generally greeted warmly in Washington, even by Democrats. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat often critical of the administration, said his "experience, intelligence, and deep understanding of national and global economic issues make him the best pick America could have hoped for to deal with the difficult economic problems the country faces."
Among business executives, Mr. Paulson stands out for a deep commitment to conservation and other environmental causes. In April, a coalition of self-styled "free market" groups criticized Mr. Paulson as a potential nominee, saying that his pro-environment positions conflict with the Bush administration positions on climate change, among other things.
The selection came as a surprise, in part because Mr. Paulson had seemed to rule out the possibility of taking the post in recent months. As late as Friday, administration insiders were saying the front runner was longtime Bush friend Donald L. Evans, a former Commerce secretary.
Mr. Bush has been looking for months outside his circle but has had trouble finding someone who wanted to take the job so close to the end of his term and in the midst of such an embattled administration.
Mr. Paulson accepted an invitation to have dinner with Mr. Bush in mid-April but then cancelled because he didn't want to lead the president to believe he would take the job, according to a person close to him. Among his concerns was that Treasury secretaries in this administration have had relatively little power. Mr. Bolten then made another run at him. Mr. Bush and Mr. Paulson met at the White House on Saturday, May 20. Mr. Paulson was still reluctant -- but relented the next day.
In the Rose Garden yesterday morning, Mr. Bush praised Mr. Paulson's international experience -- the investment banker says he has made about 70 trips to China since 1990. The nominee, the president said, "understands the importance of opening new markets for American exports" and will make sure trading partners "maintain flexible, market-based exchange rates for their currencies."
In brief remarks, Mr. Paulson spoke of "the globalization of finance as major economies around the world have become increasingly interdependent." He added: "We must take steps to maintain our competitive edge in the world."
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Paulson will be able to influence economic policy and whether the president has enough political capital left to tackle major economic issues. Mr. Bush succeeded in cutting taxes, but, so far, has failed in his stated goals of fixing the finances of Social Security and Medicare and reforming the tax code.
"The primary spokesperson for the White House since 2000 has been President Bush. It's part of his leadership style to take credit and blame for whatever happens," said Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "The real interesting question is will the White House really allow [Mr. Paulson] to make news and that's the thing that in the past people haven't really been allowed to do."
Mr. Paulson faces fiscal problems that lack easy solutions -- including government spending on health and retirement benefits that is projected to outstrip tax revenue. But any serious efforts to correct trends that even the Bush administration deems "unsustainable" will have to wait until after the November elections. More immediate issues include legislation to strengthen oversight of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to bolster corporate pension plans.
Among the most delicate will be managing -- to the extent the government can manage it -- the decline of the U.S. dollar. The currency has slipped more than 7% against other major currencies over the last five months. Economists say it will remain under pressure because of the gaping U.S. trade deficit and, more recently, signals that the Fed may soon stop raising interest rates while counterparts in Europe and Japan raise theirs.
So far, the dollar's decline has been gradual and orderly, but some economists and traders warn of the risk, however small, that the drop could turn into a rout with global investors dumping U.S. bonds to avoid further currency losses, driving up U.S. interest rates. The administration has tiptoed around the dollar issue by asserting its support for a "strong dollar," while pushing for the resolution of global imbalances, such as the record trade deficit, that most likely require a lower dollar. Having a Wall Street veteran -- instead of a railroad executive like Mr. Snow or an aluminum executive like Mr. O'Neill -- could be a plus if markets turn tumultuous.
Mr. Paulson will also be forced to confront tough spending questions, in particular programs like Social Security and Medicare. Those and other entitlement programs are underfunded by $46 trillion, according to the government estimates, and their costs are on pace to swamp the budget, leaving little or no money to pay for discretionary programs, such as defense and public education. Despite the looming obligations, spending on other programs has only increased, causing the U.S. to run an estimated $300 billion budget deficit. Mr. Bush noted that Mr. Paulson will "work closely with Congress to help restrain the spending appetite of the federal government and keep us on track to meet our goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009."
Mr. Paulson has generally taken positions that hew closely to the Bush administration. He has called for open markets, favored Bush economic policies and said deficit reductions should come through spending cuts, not tax increases. In an op-ed article in this newspaper in 2003, Mr. Paulson said the Bush dividend tax cut would spur growth and said the notion that reforming dividend taxes "somehow favors the wealthy at the expense of the poor harkens back to an earlier era when only the rich held equities." Last year, Mr. Paulson said that while he was "concerned" about the deficit, he viewed it "as being a necessary and understandable side-effect of what needed to be done to stimulate the economy."
Yet some of his positions are in stark opposition to stances that Mr. Bush has taken -- particularly on global warming and other environmental issues, which are Mr. Paulson's passion. He is chairman of the Nature Conservancy, a land conservation group that backs the Kyoto Protocol as a way to help slow global warming. Mr. Bush has rejected Kyoto as a solution and has refused to abide by the 1997 international agreement that mandates a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Mr. Paulson and his wife, Wendy, are also big contributors to environmental causes. Mrs. Paulson has been among the biggest givers to the pro-environment League of Conservation Voters -- a big backer of Democratic candidates -- contributing $278,000 between April 2000 and June 2002, according to Public Citizen. Last year, Goldman Sachs became one of a handful of companies to adopt an "environmental policy," which recognized the need for a "healthy environment."
One issue that's likely to arise at Mr. Paulson's confirmation hearing is his involvement in a decision by Goldman Sachs to donate 680,000 acres in Chile to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Mr. Paulson's son holds a seat on the society's board of advisers and some groups have questioned the ethics of giving company-owned land to a charity with ties to a family member.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs said the decision to give the land to the Wildlife Conservation Society didn't present a conflict because it was made by a committee of independent board members who acted on a recommendation from a Duke University expert.
Mrs. Paulson has donated more than $35,000 to individual candidates, primarily Democrats, over the past several years -- including $11,000 to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and her political action committee. Mr. Paulson has donated more than $200,000 to candidates and political action committees, mostly to Republicans and Republican causes.
Mr. Paulson grew up on a farm in Illinois, majored in English and played football on the offensive line at Dartmouth. He earned an MBA from Harvard in 1970. After that he did a stint in the Nixon administration's Pentagon and later in the White House as a liaison to the Treasury and Commerce departments, and then joined Goldman Sachs in Chicago in 1974. "I was interested in working with Midwestern clients, but wanted to do so for a major investment bank where my career would not be constrained by the fact that I was not in New York," he wrote years later. A Christian Scientist with a passion for animals, Mr. Paulson and his wife raised their son and daughter on Mr. Paulson's family farm in Illinois.
Mr. Paulson later moved to New York, shared the leadership of Goldman Sachs with Jon Corzine, now the governor of New Jersey, from June 1998 to May 1999 and has been sole chief executive since, as the firm went from being a partnership to a publicly held company. The years since have been some of the firm's most profitable, but Goldman has also faced criticism for its handling of potential conflicts as it invests the firm's own money alongside its clients'. In early April, Mr. Paulson sent an edict to his management committee that if Goldman were too aggressive in its purchase of sizeable stakes in companies for its own books, it could damage the firm's standing with its clients, who are often also bidding for the same firms.
Mr. Paulson is a runner and avid bird watcher. He is known for his sometimes short temper and like many other executives at his firm leaves long voicemails rather than sending emails. He wakes at around 5:30 a.m. and immediately begins phoning Goldman employees about the day's events, according to people who have received calls from him at that hour.
Mr. Paulson received total compensation valued at more than $38 million for the past fiscal year ended Nov. 25, 2005, with the bulk of it in the form of restricted stock and stock options. The current salary for the Treasury secretary is $183,500 a year. Goldman's most recent public filings indicate Paulson own 3.23 million Goldman shares valued at $484 million at current prices, not counting restricted stock and unexercised options.
Unlike some other chief executives, Mr. Paulson doesn't serve on any other companies' board of directors. He has been an outspoken advocate of strengthened corporate governance and gave a speech in 2002 at the height of corporate scandals, in which he called for greater accountability and more independence on corporate boards.
Goldman was recently accused in a report by federal regulators of helping Fannie Mae improperly push earnings into future years to help meet targets. A Goldman spokesman denied that the deal was improper. The company was also of the $1.4 billion global settlement between Wall Street investment banks and securities regulators over conflicts of interest.
--Serena Ng, Craig Karmin, Greg Ip and Michael M. Phillips contributed to this article.
Write to Deborah Solomon at [email protected]
=======================
Paulson, in His Own Words
May 30, 2006 12:26 p.m.
Henry Paulson, newly appointed to the job of Treasury secretary, has been a solid supporter of the Bush administration in commentary pieces published in The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and elsewhere. His arguments frequently also cite the benefits to Goldman Sachs, where he has been the sole chief executive officer since 1999. Below, excerpts.
* * *
On the pain and benefit of globalization
Today's global economy is in the midst of a period of … intense growing pains. The emergence of new technologies, more efficient global capital flows and production, distribution and servicing networks are converging to create new levels of competition and challenge our traditional notions of comparative advantage. … It is in America's interest to push for open markets that have the power to create new demand from consumers in emerging economies. (Full text)
-- The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2005
On the dividend tax cut: fair, not big deal for deficit, good for Goldman
Economists and other market experts who applaud the ideal of reforming dividend taxation have criticized the timing and affordability. I respectfully disagree… the long-term deficit picture is growing worrisome. But contrary to those who oppose this reform on these grounds, controlling the deficit will depend on greater discipline on the spending side of the fiscal ledger. The price tag on the proposal is roughly $39 billion a year over the next decade -- hardly a huge amount when measured against a $12 trillion economy…. The current double taxation of dividends can lead to astonishingly high effective tax rates. At Goldman Sachs, we paid a dividend of 48 cents per share in 2002. This dividend represented 74 cents in pre-tax earnings, of which our shareholders received as little as 29 cents after taxes….The argument that the abolition of double dividend taxation somehow favors the wealthy at the expense of the poor harkens back to an earlier era when only the rich held equities. (Full text)
-- The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2003
On his opposition to Levitt's 'Reg FD'
Levitt took on much of Wall Street in pushing through the so-called "Regulation Fair Disclosure" or Reg FD, a rule intended to deal with the "abusive" practice of selective disclosure of sensitive corporate information to analysts and institutional investors. As Levitt notes, I, along with the Securities Industry Association, opposed Reg FD, believing it was unnecessary and would have a chilling effect on the dissemination of information. On Reg FD, Levitt won and we lost -- and time will tell whether the quality of corporate disclosure and the capital markets are the better for it. While Levitt frequently casts himself as a David battling the Goliaths of Wall Street, I can testify that he was, on occasion, a David with a mighty accurate sling-shot.
-- From a review of former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt's memoir in the Financial Times, Sept. 30, 2002
On the economic war on terror
The most obvious aspect of the war on terror is clearly military action. But we can't forget the economic component, and primarily the gains we reap from globalization. Let's not forget that it continues to be those countries most closed to trade that are prime breeding grounds for terrorists. Moreover, to truly wage and win this war, our political unity and military power must be fortified by the strength of our economies. (Full text)
-- The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2001
On Europe's failed deregulation, opposition to mergers
Europe must restructure its inadequate pension systems while finding the right mix of regulation and taxation. It needs less intrusive government regulation. It needs to liberalise and integrate its capital and labour markets and to promote development of continent-wide clearance and settlement systems. And it needs more accountable corporate governance. These are admittedly daunting challenges. Regrettably, it is unclear that Europe is willing to meet them. The failure of the European Takeover Directive squandered 12 years of efforts. Governments, including those in France and Germany, have recently taken some backward steps in deregulating labour markets. Even in the UK, there are worrying signs that regulation is becoming more intrusive in areas such as financial services, telecommunications, water and electricity. Moreover, mergers are under assault across the EU. There are, indeed, legitimate grounds for stopping some mergers; but the EU must be careful to avoid giving the impression of rigidity that risks inhibiting competition rather than enhancing it.
-- Financial Times, Nov. 13, 2001
On Bush tax cuts in 2001 as good use of surplus
Three economic realities -- a growing budget surplus, a weakening U.S. economy, and the positive incentives resulting from reducing taxes that are now at a 50-year high as a percentage of GDP -- argue strongly for a sizable, across-the-board reduction in marginal tax rates, retroactive to the beginning of this year. By cutting taxes, the Bush plan will reduce the temptation to expand the role of government in the U.S. economy, and, no less importantly, put the budget surpluses into the hands of those whose hard work and thrift created them: taxpayers.
No doubt there will be vigorous debate not only on the size of the tax cut, but also on its perceived fairness and the nature of the incentives it incorporates. Although fairness is a highly subjective principle, an across-the-board reduction in the marginal tax rates is at least fair to the extent that all taxpayers benefit in proportion to their present income tax contributions. (Full text)
-- The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 15, 2001
On his early Washington experience
When I graduated from business school in 1970, I was fortunate to begin my career in Washington -- first in the Pentagon, and later in the White House as a liaison to the Treasury and Commerce Departments. For a young man in his early 20's, it was a wonderful experience being assigned to the team that analyzed the ailing Lockheed Corp. for then Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard, and then meeting with Cabinet officers and reporting to the President on tax policy issues.
-- Investment Dealers Digest, May 22, 2000
On how the U.S. will lose if it does not do business with China
Chinese economic reform has reached a milestone as PetroChina, the oil and gas company that is the flagship of Beijing's privatization program, has begun offering stock to the public. (Goldman Sachs was a proud underwriter of the initial offering.) Trading in the stock began last week on the New York and Hong Kong exchanges. … This entry of a giant state-owned Chinese company into the international equity market had been far from a sure thing. An array of special interests, led by labor unions, had lobbied hard against it, asking the Clinton administration, Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission to prevent listing of the shares on the New York exchange. …If Congress turns down normalized trade with China, we are the ones who will be isolated. The rest of the world is eager to do business with the Chinese, and China will still be able to join the World Trade Organization. On the diplomatic level, a no vote would repudiate nearly 30 years of constructive engagement under Democratic and Republican administrations alike.
-- New York Times, April 15, 2000
作者：gui 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
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