Why should we trust Timothy Geithner?

Now the media are touting something he said, or wrote, 20 years ago about Japan. Hey--what about all that experience with the Fed? Did he see the meltdown coming? And if so, who did he tell?

Geithner did not see the current collapse coming. And if you think about it, the idea that he did makes no sense. He foresees this huge economic mess and his reaction is to give a speech in Hong Kong, not actually do anything about it here at home--although he runs one of the Fed’s most important branches. Like so many others in positions of power and trust, Geithner was eminently well placed to see the developing crisis and avoid or mitigate its worst effects. He should have known, but he didn’t. His view was much more conventional. He saw no shocks that the financial system couldn’t handle. He could not have been more wrong, but this is the guy that Obama wants for his Treasury Secretary.Link

Why does Obama think this guy is, next to him, our only salvation? Why do only the rest of us have to pay our taxes? What happened to hope and change, or is this the change he was talking about? Tax crooks are known BEFORE they take office.