SAJAforum coverage of Neel Kashkari, the new bailout boss:
Oct. 13: His first speech
Oct. 9: His first quotes
Oct. 7: The post below
Oct. 6: His nomination
Sept. 25: A post finding him on the front page of NYTimes.com
Listen to a discussion about him and the rest of the economic meltdown here.
That's a screengrab of "NBC Nightly News" anchor (and 2006 SAJA Journalism Leader Award winner) Brian Williams, as he talked about news of Neel Kashkari's nomination as head of the $700-billion bailout on Monday, Oct 6. 2008. See SAJAforum's coverage of Kashkari here and here.
SAJAforum had its biggest day in terms of traffic yesterday because of those Kashkari items (our piece from two weeks ago had a lot of Google juice) and the eyeballs keep coming our way. Considering how thin our coverage has been, this shows one thing: how little stuff there is out there about Kashkari.
Even a story around noon today on CNN, more than 24 hours since the news broke, had no pictures of him beyond the headshot and no "B-roll" (TV speak for file footage) of Kashkari. They had to rely on standard Paulson video.
So, here's an attempt to roundup some of the info out there.
First, since, as of this writing, he has not spoken publicly, I thought you might like to see what he sounds like in action (I wonder who's going to be the first journalist to get him on the record?):
Kashkari spoke about home mortgages and the banking industry at the conservative American Enterprise Institute on Sept. 19, 2008.
Full video and audio, summary text available here at AEI site.
UPDATE: A journalist friend wrote to say it's unlikely we'll hear directly from Kashkari right away: "it'll probably be a little while before he talks.he needs to spend his time actually designing the program, which means coordinating with all the financial advisers and academics who are coming aboardfor this."
But the New York Post, in a piece that calls him "Kash & Kari," did get his sister (and such nuggets as his love for the rock band AC/DC):
His big sister, Meera Kelly, said she was proud to learn about her brother's promotion to interim assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability.
"He's very hardworking, and he's very committed," said Kelly, who lives in North Carolina. "He's going to want to make sure this rolls out and is as effective as possible given all that's at stake."
- Paul Waldie, writing in the Globe and Mail, sums it up well:
Few people outside Washington have probably ever heard of Neel Kashkari.
But Mr. Kashkari has just been handed one of the biggest jobs on the planet – managing the U.S. government's $700-billion (U.S.) financial rescue package.
Yesterday U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson appointed him as interim assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial stability, to run the new Office of Financial Stability and administer the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The job would be daunting for someone twice Mr. Kashkari's age or with many times more experience. But the 35-year-old – who came to the Treasury from Goldman Sachs and has been there for just over two years – mainly as an adviser to Mr. Paulson, may have to learn as he goes.
- K.P. Nayar, writes about Kashkari in the Kolkata Telegraph, "Bailout in Indian Hands":
Already, there is speculation here whether Congress will confirm Kashkari, who may be considered too young and inexperienced for the huge responsibility that Paulson is willing to give the Indian American.
For this reason, Kashkari may be named interim head so that he can start work on the bailout right away without having to await Congressional hearings and confirmation. It is likely that after judging the mood on Capitol Hill, a permanent nominee for the job, acceptable to both Democrats and Republicans, may be sent to the Congress so that he can continue under the next administration irrespective of who is elected president in November.Paulson had used the same tactic in 2006 to get Kashkari to work with him in the treasury rightaway without Congressional nod. He appointed Kashkari as a "senior adviser", a post which does not need confirmation by the Congress.
Slightly more than a year later, the Indian American was nominated by Bush to be assistant secretary of the treasury for international economics and development, a post he holds now.
- Joshua Micah Marshall, writes (and worries) in Talking Points Memo:
For all I know this guy's a friggin' genius. But did Hank Paulson really just put a 35 year old former Goldman Sachs VP in charge of the entire bailout program?
Let me be clear, on the face of it, Neel Kashkari looks impressive. But VP isn't even a high position at Goldman. And his background appears to be in tech investing, though he has been leading up Treasury's response to the housing meltdown (a ambiguous recommendation in itself.)
In any case, I want to be clear. I'm not saying Kashkari is another Michael Brown. But he is going to be in charge of upwards of a trillion dollars, in a task that would challenge an economics and finance genius from any era, and one rife with ethical and conflict of interest pitfalls.
I think we need to hear a lot more about the thinking behind this appointment.
- Muzameel Jalil, writes in Indian Express from Kashkari's grandfather's neighborhood in Srinagar, Kashmir:
The 35-year-old Indian who has been tasked with bailing out the US economy from the credit crunch has his roots in Srinagar’s Safriyar locality. But nobody in this rundown neighbourhood knows Neel Kashkari. His identity here is through his grandfather Sudarshan Kashkari, a former head clerk in the Electric Department, the well known Kashkari clan, a brick house on the banks of the Jhelum and a Kashkari neighbourhood which no longer exists.
Neel Kashkari’s family once lived in this Kashmiri Pandit locality around the Somyar temple. “We remember Sudarshan Kashkari and his three sons,” says Bashir Ahmad Wani who has been running a shop in the area for over 50 years. “We were neighbours.”
Their house and the rest of the Kashkari neighbourhood were dismantled in 2000 to make way for a new bridge. “The temple is still there,” says Wani, pointing towards two brick houses. “These are the houses of the Sadhu family, the only remnants of the time other than the memories.”
You can also listen to CNN's Ali Velshi, Fox Business Network's Shibani Joshi and freelance journalist and retail analyst Hitha Prabhakar discuss Kashkari's nomination the day it happened on their SAJA webcast, at this link.
What do YOU think? If you have thoughts, news updates, links, etc, please post them below.
