Lambright knows how to navigate

Anyone who has attempted to sort through the complexities of the government's efforts to restore some measure of order to the financial world know what a real headache feels like.

So, it's encouraging now and then to encounter somebody who seems to know what the heck is going on.

The Wall Street Journal profiled one such person this week, and we came away encouraged and even a little optimistic.

The guy's name is James Lambright, and he's the chief investment officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In other words, he's the guy in charge of figuring out how to use your tax dollars to get the financial system back into shape.

It should come as no surprise that the guy is smart: Worked his way through Stanford, graduated from Harvard Law School, made money on Wall Street, then joined the Bush administration and rose to become chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

He's also tough: Boxed in Golden Gloves competition and has a reputation of driving a hard bargain.

That last part is important, because that's essentially his job right now.

According to The Journal, Lambright often talks about "navigating the two beacons." He's talking about trying to bring stability to the financial system while still being a smart steward of taxpayer dollars.

If we had to describe the job, we couldn't come up with a better description.

On New Year's Eve, The Journal reported, Lambright was dealing with Citigroup, which said it needed $20 billion to avoid collapse. But the deal was stalled because Treasury was requiring waivers from about 50 executives that would allow the government to put limits on their pay and some of the Citigroup executives were balking.

Lambright's response: "This is good news. This tells me you don't really need the money. Let's talk next year." The waivers came within hours, and only then did Citigroup get the assistance it was looking for.

That's what we'd call "navigating the two beacons" well. - J.R.

[[In-content Ad]]