In an in depth article in Monday’s New York Times Jo Becker and Gretchen Morgenson paint a picture of the challenge facing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during the ongoing financial crisis. Geithner is constantly being second-guessed about the rescue’s costs and results, as he is the person most identified with the enormous checks the government is writing, and the fact that the recipients of this largesse are those financial firms who made the mistakes that caused the problems.

During Mr. Geithner’s five year tenure as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank his relationships with executives of Wall Street’s giant financial institutions became very close, which has resulted in much questioning of his actions which have favored the industry’s interests and desires.

Are Mr. Geithner’s critics right in saying that he has been motivated solely by a wish to help the financial industry, and is doing it at taxpayer expense? Did he miss too many signs, these last few years, that the financial system was falling apart?

You will be most enlightened by Mr. Becker and Ms. Morgenson’s most revealing and well researched background story in Monday’s Times.