There’s been a giant Snow Job going on around this country for the past three years and it is has been unjustified. Almost since his arrival, Treasury Secretary John Snow has been rumored to be on the way out. I am not quite sure what he did wrong and in the age of politicians getting credit or blame for stuff they had little or no actual control over, the results were rather good by my count. From the date of his nomination to the date of his resignation, the S&P was up 38%, the Dow was up 28%, and the Nasdaq was up 50%. Economically, the GDP had an average annual growth rate of approximately 3.8% - a figure matched or exceeded by only a few prior Treasury Secretaries. Significant tax legislation was passed, regulation was improved and the dollar was relatively stable.

So what went wrong during his tenure? Iraq & Katrina come to mind but he didn’t have anything to do with unnatural or natural disasters. China and the rest of BRIC became economic powerhouses and created huge trade deficits because American consumers liked the products and the pricing. For whatever control he has on the trade deficit, I don’t see how he could have prevented BRIC’s influence. Oil went up over 100% but I struggle with his part in the energy crisis or for that matter, the rise of other commodity prices. I have heard that he did not do a good job defending himself or promoting how well the economy was doing - maybe he was too busy actually trying to do his job. He also failed to tell another country (China) what to do with its currency. At some point, I believe we need to stop expecting that the United States or its Treasury Secretary should be able to dictate what other sovereign countries do.

Regardless of the justification, Secretary Snow is gone. Out with the old, in with the new. I only hope that the nominated Hank Paulsen does as poor of a job as Mr. Snow has done. We should be so lucky.