With only a few more weeks to go till the US Presidential election, and with the US and world economy going down the toilet, focus is shifting naturally as to which US Presidential candidate is likely to be better at handling the economy. It’s ‘The Economy, Stupid’ all over again. Hence, both McCain and Obama devoted some time to the question of who they would appoint as their Secretary of the Treasury, a position being filled currently by Henry Paulson.

The reason for the significance of the Treasury Secretary appointment is obvious: said person will have to work together with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to execute the 750 billion dollar bail-out plan. Bernanke’s appointment to the Federal Reserve is a 14 year term, but only 4 years as chairman starting 2006 which means, the next US president must get along with him till at least 2010.

Here is Ben Bernanke’s BaZi (Time Unknown)

Ben Bernanke BaZi (Time Unknown)

Here are the BaZi charts (time regarded as accurate based on Obama’s birth certificate as reproduced on the Internet, and the time of birth that has been attributed to McCain on the Internet) of the two men who he may be working with.

Barack Obama BaZi Chart

John McCain BaZi (Time Unknown)

So, which one will Bernanke get along better with?

This is essentially doing a Compatibility Analysis of the charts – similar to the kind of analysis that I did for the post Compatibility Analysis in Action. Except we are of course not looking for a girlfriend for Mr Bernanke. But the concept/process is essentially similar.

There are several levels in which the analysis can be performed. The most simple level of analysis is looking at how the Day Master’s interact with each other. Bernanke is a 戊 Earth Day Master. His new ‘boss’ will either be a 癸 Water Day Master (McCain) or 己 Earth Day Master (Obama).

In theory, using Day Master compatibility for assessment, Bernanke will get along better with McCain than he will with Obama. This is because 癸 + 戊 is a combination of Stems. Furthermore, although Ji and Wu are the same element but different polarity, it has to be considered that not all the Stems interact with each other in the same way. That is why some people are better suited for partnership (and equally have greater problems divorcing themselves from a partnership) than others. So although Ji and Wu are both of the element of Earth, Earth people generally do not partner or collaborate well with other Earth people.

So on the basis of Day Master, McCain and Bernanke will get along well. But of course, merely using the Day Master to determine the ability of the parties to ‘get along’ and is quite a superficial way to access compatibility.

A better way of course is to compare Day Pillar to Day Pillar.

Obama: 己巳 

Bernanke: 戊 戌

vs

McCain: 癸 未

Bernanke:戊 戌

From the Day Pillar to Day Pillar comparison,we can see that McCain and Bernanke will only appear to get along, because although Gui and Wu is in combination,  it is a Bullying Punishment involved (Goat to Dog). Furthermore, Gui and Wu is regarded as a ‘non-sentimental’ combination, which means it is a fleeting combination, a connection that is tenuous at best, and short-lived.

But there’s no brilliant news for Obama and Bernanke either.

On a positive note, there is no negative connection between Obama and Bernanke’s charts – the Snake and the Dog do not have a negative interaction with each other. Obviously, we prefer it if the Pillars connect in some way, such as a Heaven and Earth Combine but no connect arguably is better than disconnect. There’s also a slight advantage between Obama and Bernanke in that Bernanke’s chart needs Fire, and Obama’s chart is dominated by the Fire element.

Aguably the Fed Chairman does not have to get along with the President – it is more important that he get along with the Treasury Secretary since they will work together to implement the bailout plan. It is clear from Bernanke and Henry Paulson’s charts that they connect with each other, but I’m not sure if they are really that good for each other, since Bernanke as an Earth Day Master, whilst appearing to support Paulson’s Xin Metal Day Master, is in reality just bulldozing him!

Speculating ahead, what kind of person should Obama or McCain seek to appoint as their Treasury Secretary?

Day Master-wise, it would probably make the most sense to appoint a Water person, preferably a Ren Water person. This is because Wu and Ren have a mutually complimentary relationship – they contain each other. Secondly, a Ren Water person will be pro-active, and most likely an excellent operations person or operationally strong. This would provide a good complimentary personality to Bernanke’s more considered, and slightly more ‘slow’ style of working (Bernanke being Wu Earth, and being of a Direct Wealth structure).

Certainly an unwise idea would be to select any person who is a Metal Day Master, especially since these individuals are likely to have a challenging year in 2009. You need someone who is NOT going through a rotten time in 2009 and whilst it is not ideal for Ren or Gui Water people, it’s worse for the Metal Day Masters.

An alternative option would be a Jia Wood person, but the disadvantage of having a Jia Wood person is that they would not be flexible and adaptive. With Wu Earth itself not being that adaptive and fast moving, it is unwise to have two unadaptive individuals dealing with and handling a situation which requires extraordinary adaptability.

In theory, I would not select any Yin stems to do the job because arguably it is going to be a very strenous and exhausting situation to constantly micromanage the economic situation and a Yin Stem (or at least a weak Yin Stem) might not be able to take the pressure. If pressed, then I would chose a Yi Wood person to take on the job, as at least, they would probably be able to do a convincing job selling the public on the idea that they’re doing the right thing and Ji Chou year is not terribly negative for Yi Woods as a whole.