Continuity in the pursuit of continued competence (your implication) is certainly a good thing.

The whole debacle; the the subprime mortgage market, its derivatives and tranchings, the “creative” financial instruments called collateralized debt obligations (C.D.O.s) that fueled Wall Streets greed, went on for many years… given his position, Geithner HAD to be aware of it.

Perhaps given the entrenched interests, Geithner may only have had the power to speak out against what was going on but he did not do so, and his position made that his obligation…

“JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Timothy Geithner: Obama’s Teflon Treasury Secretary. Pethokoukis has a question: “Mr. Geithner, the job of the New York Fed is to — now I am quoting its own web site — ’supervise and regulate financial institutions in the Second District [Wall Street]. Its primary objective is to maintain safe and competitive U.S. and global banking systems.’ You have been in your current post since 2003 and during that time the U.S. financial system has come close to complete disintegration. Why do you deserve a promotion?”

For those interested in the whole extremely interesting and depressing picture:
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom?print=true

Continuity in the face of what are either incompetence and/or corruption is NOT a good thing.