Citi's chief economist Lewis Alexander is said to be leaving for a post <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123732747181462245.html>with the U.S. Treasury Department. Alexander will be a direct counselor to Tim Geithner. This makes some sense keeping in mind who Geithner's predecessor was.
Mr. Alexander's role as Citigroup's chief economist didn't entail significant management responsibilities. But his optimistic economic forecasts colored executives' views that the U.S. was unlikely to face a prolonged slump.
"I think that's not going to spill over more broadly into the economy, and so I think we're going to have a normal kind of housing cycle that's going to last through the middle of this year," Mr. Alexander said in a Feb. 28, 2007, interview on PBS.
All we need is another overly optimistic figurehead to provide the 3D rose-colored glasses to the masses. Additionally, now companies that have Citi as a counterparty are likely to immediately become elevated to too big to fail status.