25 People Who Will Affect Your Finances in 2009

A month into the new year, and the American economy is reeling from the ongoing banking crisis, battered retirement accounts, and mounting unemployment. Who are the folks who might make things better, or even worse? Who are the people who will move markets this year, up or down? To help you keep track of these "market movers," U.S. News & World Report compiled a list of key CEOs, politicos, and even media stars to watch in 2009. So if things do improve, you'll know whom to credit. And if they don't, you'll know whom to blame.
1) Barack Obama. Tackling the economic mess is job one for the new president, and then it's on to challenges in healthcare, climate change, and financial re-regulation. It's a daunting list for the new commander-in-chief who famously said "the challenges we face are real ... they will be met."

2) Ben Bernanke. Now that the Federal Reserve chairman has slashed interest rates to almost zero and lent billions to the ailing banking sector, what comes next? He'll need to stay nimble this year, as the central bank keeps trying to figure out how to deal with all those bad mortgage assets while supporting a Fed balance sheet that's ballooned to $2 trillion.

3) Lawrence Summers. He's a brilliant economist and a former Clinton-era treasury secretary. Now, as head of the National Economic Council, he's a major force in sizing up the Obama Administration's stimulus package.

4) Timothy Geithner. The youthful Treasury Secretary (he's 47) will be tasked with figuring out a plan to heal the banking sector. His time in the trenches during the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. give him credibility in the finance world, even after it came to light that the country's most visible financial enforcer forgot to pay some of his own taxes.

5) Jean-Claude Trichet. The president of the European Central Bank caught flack for hiking interest rates in mid-2008, but reversed course in response to the global downturn later in the year. Since then, he's proved surprisingly creative in dealing with the global spread of the banking crisis. Still, as lenders worldwide (and Europe in particular) face mounting losses, his job is far from done.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/25-People-Who-Will-Affect-usnews-14264821.html

The rest of the list is a real hoot. We're doomed.

I'm due to take a big writedown on my tar, feathers, rope, torch and pitchfork budget. The guy at the top of the list gets a pass for now, the others we pretty much know all we need to know about them to run them out of town on a rail.

"We Republicons want America to FAIL. Smirk."

- Republicon UberLeader Rush 'Draft Dodger' Limbaugh