platinumdude
7th August 2011, 04:06 PM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/07/bloomberg1376-LPGZMA1A74E901-7A02QIP65RACVH2QA8S0T30BU9.DTL
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, a central figure in the U.S. government's bailouts of Wall Street banks and efforts to raise the debt limit, told President Barack Obama that he intends to remain in his job.
Geithner, 49, will stay on at least through the 2012 election, according to an administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Geithner, the last remaining member of Obama's original economic team, made his announcement after months of speculation over his future. He told White House officials this year that he was considering leaving once a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit deal was reached. Obama signed an increase in the limit on Aug. 2.
"Secretary Geithner has let the president know that he plans to stay on in his position at Treasury," Jenni LeCompte, assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement today in Washington. "He looks forward to the important work ahead on the challenges facing our great country."
Geithner's decision allows the administration to maintain continuity in economic policy at a time of investor concern that the two-year-old expansion may be stalling and after Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. credit rating for the first time. The S&P 500 Index of stocks slumped 7.2 percent to 1,199.38 last week, the biggest weekly drop since November 2008 and the lowest level since Nov. 30, 2010.
"The President asked Secretary Geithner to stay on at Treasury and welcomes his decision," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement today.
'Right Decision'
"It is the right decision for him and the markets," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, said in an e-mail today. "He has not finished the job yet as the economic recovery remains fragile and the trillion-dollar deficits have not been tamed. There is no obvious immediate replacement waiting in the wings."
Banking lawyer H. Rodgin Cohen, senior chairman at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, said in a phone interview today that Geithner's decision is positive because it "removes numerous uncertainties overhanging the market." Cohen described himself as an "unabashed fan" of Geithner's.
The Treasury secretary's challenges for the rest of Obama's term include reducing unemployment, overhauling the housing- finance system, working with Congress to further cut the budget deficit and helping European leaders contain their debt crisis.
'Middle of Crisis'
"In the middle of this crisis, Geithner probably doesn't want to roil markets any more than they have already been, so it's best to just say you're staying for now even if you are ultimately planning on leaving," Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC in New York, said in an e-mail.
The Obama administration probably wanted to avoid a fight in the Senate, which would have to approve a new Treasury secretary, said Brian Gardner, senior vice president of Washington research at New York-based Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.
"It would have been very tough to confirm a successor," Gardner said.
Under Geithner, the U.S. has suffered what he referred to last month as "unacceptably high, terribly high" unemployment. The jobless rate fell to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent in July as discouraged workers left the labor force, according to Labor Department data released Aug. 5.
Debt-Limit Debates
Geithner may find himself in another round of debt-limit debates. The agreement reached in Congress requires that a group of 12 lawmakers submit savings in November involving all parts of government. Geithner also will be tackling the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing-finance companies that have drawn about $130 billion in taxpayer support since they were seized by the government in 2008.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/07/bloomberg1376-LPGZMA1A74E901-7A02QIP65RACVH2QA8S0T30BU9.DTL#ixzz1UO4lzjPN
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, a central figure in the U.S. government's bailouts of Wall Street banks and efforts to raise the debt limit, told President Barack Obama that he intends to remain in his job.
Geithner, 49, will stay on at least through the 2012 election, according to an administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.
Geithner, the last remaining member of Obama's original economic team, made his announcement after months of speculation over his future. He told White House officials this year that he was considering leaving once a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit deal was reached. Obama signed an increase in the limit on Aug. 2.
"Secretary Geithner has let the president know that he plans to stay on in his position at Treasury," Jenni LeCompte, assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement today in Washington. "He looks forward to the important work ahead on the challenges facing our great country."
Geithner's decision allows the administration to maintain continuity in economic policy at a time of investor concern that the two-year-old expansion may be stalling and after Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. credit rating for the first time. The S&P 500 Index of stocks slumped 7.2 percent to 1,199.38 last week, the biggest weekly drop since November 2008 and the lowest level since Nov. 30, 2010.
"The President asked Secretary Geithner to stay on at Treasury and welcomes his decision," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement today.
'Right Decision'
"It is the right decision for him and the markets," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York, said in an e-mail today. "He has not finished the job yet as the economic recovery remains fragile and the trillion-dollar deficits have not been tamed. There is no obvious immediate replacement waiting in the wings."
Banking lawyer H. Rodgin Cohen, senior chairman at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, said in a phone interview today that Geithner's decision is positive because it "removes numerous uncertainties overhanging the market." Cohen described himself as an "unabashed fan" of Geithner's.
The Treasury secretary's challenges for the rest of Obama's term include reducing unemployment, overhauling the housing- finance system, working with Congress to further cut the budget deficit and helping European leaders contain their debt crisis.
'Middle of Crisis'
"In the middle of this crisis, Geithner probably doesn't want to roil markets any more than they have already been, so it's best to just say you're staying for now even if you are ultimately planning on leaving," Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC in New York, said in an e-mail.
The Obama administration probably wanted to avoid a fight in the Senate, which would have to approve a new Treasury secretary, said Brian Gardner, senior vice president of Washington research at New York-based Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.
"It would have been very tough to confirm a successor," Gardner said.
Under Geithner, the U.S. has suffered what he referred to last month as "unacceptably high, terribly high" unemployment. The jobless rate fell to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent in July as discouraged workers left the labor force, according to Labor Department data released Aug. 5.
Debt-Limit Debates
Geithner may find himself in another round of debt-limit debates. The agreement reached in Congress requires that a group of 12 lawmakers submit savings in November involving all parts of government. Geithner also will be tackling the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing-finance companies that have drawn about $130 billion in taxpayer support since they were seized by the government in 2008.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/07/bloomberg1376-LPGZMA1A74E901-7A02QIP65RACVH2QA8S0T30BU9.DTL#ixzz1UO4lzjPN