Officials pledge to move quickly, name interim head to lead rescue

By Martin Crutsinger and Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writers WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department moved swiftly Monday to implement the U.S. financial rescue package, naming a former Goldman Sachs executive to oversee spending the $700 billion earmarked for the plan and pledging to work with other countries to calm global financial markets. The administration announced it had tapped Neel Kashkari, 35 — an assistant Treasury secretary for international affairs — to head the Treasury's new Office of Financial Stability on an interim basis. Kashkari helped draft the legislation as one of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's close advisers on the crisis. Kashkari joined the government after working at Goldman Sachs, the firm Paulson headed before joining the Bush administration in 2006. The President's Working Group on Financial... [read full story]