Once the current Federal bailout package for Wall Street comes together, Treasury Secretary Henry (Hank) Paulson will become The Check Writer-In-Chief. Spurred by the recent collapse of the entire industry of investment banking in the United States, the Federal Government is crafting a bailout package in upwards of $700 Billion in the hopes of salvaging the financial industry and, we’re told, the US economy. Once that package is agreed to by Congress and the White House, there will be one man in charge of implementing it - Treasury Secretary Paulson, giving him, one man, what is to be the largest spending power in the history of money. Given that, thanks to the priorities of the press in this country, I know far more about Sarah Palin’s hunting trips and the background of her supposed son-in-law to be Levi Johnston than I do about the Treasury Secretary this is more than a little disturbing.

So let’s find out about this guy. Hank Paulson was born in Palm Beach, Florida and attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He is 62 years old. He attended Dartmouth College for his undergraduate degree and went on to Harvard Business School for his Masters in Business Administration. All of this sounds good so far. He’s an overachiever and went to some top schools. He worked in in the Federal government previously as an assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense at the The Pentagon then went on to work in the Nixon Administration as a staff assistant. While this might not be my favorite White House in US History, it stands to reason that many top Republican policymakers worked there in their youth.

But here’s the tricky part. Paulson then went on to a storied career at the illustrious firm of Goldman Sachs & Co - until this past weekend the top firm on Wall Street. He eventually attained the top position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the investment firm which he held until he departed the company to become Secretary of the Treasury. Now there is no question that this is a very capable man we’re talking about. The question though, is if there is an enormous conflict of interest at work here. A question that in any other situation would be answered with a resounding “YES”. Being this is high finance we’re talking about and Paulson was one of the top dogs on Wall Street before re-entering the Government, the assumption being pushed on us is that he’s the man who knows how to fix it, if anyone does.

But whose interests are being served here? While it might be nice to think to myself that now, along with hundreds of other millions of taxpayers, I own some major banks and insurance companies, the sobering reality is that these companies are falling apart and nothing the government has done thus far has done anything to change that and we have no guarantee that this unprecedented bailout will either. Another splash of cold water in the face is that if this doesn’t work, once you lose money in the financial markets it is gone forever leaving us nothing to show for it but worthless pieces of data and paper.

Honestly I would prefer we used some of this enormous sum of money to build infrastructure - data transmission lines, power transmissions lines for the 21st Century, renewable energy facilities like solar and wind farms, better public transportation facilities and better rail travel, plus plenty of research and development for the future. The FIRE (Finance. Insurance. Real Estate.) industries brought this on themselves with their incessant lobbying for deregulation and then subsequent reckless, irresponsible behavior. We should not wholly subsidize them in that failure at the risk of throwing even more bad money after bad money, even if there are huge risks to our economy.

You can takepart by contacting your Representative in Congress and Senator and demanding that a portion of this bailout go toward boosting the energy and public transportation infrastructure of this country, things with guaranteed value in the future.

LINKS:

Arianna Huffington: The Bailout Plan: Welcome to Economic Shock and Awe

The Street: Paulson, Bernanke pitch bailout to Congress

NY Times: Paulson and Bernanke urge quick action on bailout

Reuters UK: Global stocks pressured as markets await Paulson