Here's the good news for Timothy Geithner, who traveled through Chicago last week speaking bluntly about the bad economy: Hard times can spell opportunity for Treasury secretaries.

Alexander Hamilton had to build a Treasury from scratch after the Revolutionary War. Henry Morgenthau Jr. served almost as long as FDR, guiding the nation through the Great Depression. Robert Rubin won kudos for containing the global financial crisis of the late 1990s, though his reputation has suffered since.

From the market meltdown preceding his appointment to the calls for his resignation that came within months after it, Geithner has attracted harsh criticism. Even with the economy starting to mend, he remains associated with greed run amok on Wall Street, astronomical budget deficits and heavy-handed federal intervention in the marketplace.

And by the way, Mr. Secretary, where are the jobs? The banks eager to lend? The payoff from all that government spending?

At a job-training center on Chicago's West Side, surrounded by woodworking tools, with the smell of sawdust in the air, Geithner found a grateful audience.

A $5 billion expansion in business tax credits under the Recovery Act will help transform an old factory into a new training center for the Greater West Town Community Development Project.

Among the Geithner fans on hand was Francisco Chavez, a 41-year- old father of three who graduated from a vocational program in shipping and receiving two weeks ago. He starts a new job Monday, ending 16 months of unemployment, he told the Treasury secretary.

"Your story's going to have to be repeated millions of times over before a real recovery is under way," Geithner said. "This is a very tough economy still. We have a lot of work to do to make sure we have a recovery in place that is self-sustaining."

From his years as a technocrat, most recently heading the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner is known as a sober guy, the type who underpromises and overdelivers.

In Chicago, he delivered a message that was upbeat but tempered.

"Remember where we were about a year ago. The economy of the U.S. basically came to a stop," he said. "Things are stabilizing. Jobs will follow that initial traction. There's a lot of reinforcement in the pipeline. Over time, you're going to see a good return on the taxpayer's (dollar)."

It remains to be seen if Geithner and the rest can make it happen. Some observers pine for a more uplifting leader in what has become a highly visible post.

"Where I'm concerned about his performance is in the creation of jobs," said Abol Jalilvand, dean at the Loyola University Chicago Graduate School of Business. "This is about confidence. You need somebody just much more inspirational. I'm not sure he stays for long."

But others say Geithner's knowledge of the New York financial world will make him all the more effective in the long run.

"He got off to a rough start, but he's growing into the role," said Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics at Moody's Economy.com and a former senior economist at Treasury. "He is not going to go out and be a cheerleader for the economy. But he knows this stuff inside out."

Geithner, for his part, pledges to let the results do the talking.

"I do not believe in cheerleading," he told the Tribune editorial board on Friday. "It's a terrible mistake people in these jobs usually make."

Greg Burns is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Readers may send him e-mail at gburns@tribune.com.

Originally published by Greg Burns; Chicago Tribune.

(c) 2009 Herald; Rock Hill, S.C.. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.