The Fix

Chapter 9 Escape to London

Gary Gensler's swearing-in ceremony at the CFTC on May 26, 2009, was carefully orchestrated for maximum impact, as with most events in his life. In a speech at the agency's headquarters just after 4:30 p.m., Gensler thanked President Obama before paying his dues to the people who had helped him get there: Pete Rouse and Jim Messina, Obama's future chief of staff and campaign manager; former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Gensler's old mentor and now an economic adviser to the White House; Phil Schiliro, the president's director of legislative affairs.

Senior CFTC staffers jostled for seats with journalists and Washington movers and shakers, including Treasury Secretary Geithner and the recently appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Schapiro. On a wall hung a defibrillator machine, a fitting visual metaphor for Gensler's mission to revive a government agency that lacked credibility and firepower.

“Our financial and regulatory systems have failed the American people,” Gensler said, elongating his vowels. “As chairman of the CFTC, I will work vigorously to use every tool and authority available to us to protect the American people from fraud, manipulation and excessive speculation.”

Gensler describes himself to friends as “a short, bald Jew from Baltimore”. At 5-foot-7 and no more than 150 pounds he may be physically unimposing, but his razor-sharp intellect and forthright personality allow him to dominate any room ...