WASHINGTON — As the federal government propped up the housing market and braced for the collapse of General Motors this past spring, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner capped a busy week with phone conversations with three men: Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; Jamie Dimon, CEO at JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and President Barack Obama.
Dimon and Blankfein, along with executives at Citigroup Inc., are among a cadre of Wall Street executives who have known Geithner for years, whose multibillion-dollar companies survived the economic crisis with his help, and who can pick up the phone and reach the nation’s most powerful economic official.
Geithner’s calendars, obtained by The Associated Press, offer a behind -the- scenes glimpse at the extraordinary influence of three companies.
More than any other company or any of their rival banks, Goldman, Citi and JPMorgan can get Geithner on the phone several times a day if necessary, giving them an unmatched opportunity to influence policy.
“They’re people he has relationships with and who he can trust,” said Taylor Griffin, a Treasury Department spokesman during the George W. Bush administration. Griffin defended Geithner’s relationships with industry executives.
“There’s only so much time in the day, and you can only talk to so many people,” Griffin said. “You choose the people whose point of view you value.”
The Associated Press
