[Ettiominiw]

Geithner is the last original member of the Obama Economic Team left...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...76068V20110701

Analysis: Geithner may want to go; will Obama let him?

(Reuters) - Timothy Geithner may be musing about stepping down as Treasury secretary but President Barack Obama has ample reason to try to talk him out of it, not least that doing so would avoid a bruising succession battle.

Given the poisonous political atmosphere on Capitol Hill, getting a new Treasury chief through Senate nomination hearings and a vote in which some Republican support would almost certainly be needed would be a struggle in itself.

Beyond that, the process of choosing a successor would create a stage for the administration's Republican opponents to highlight the economy's continuing woes just as Obama prepares for a tough 2012 reelection bid.

Simply finding a candidate to bridge some of the divide between the White House and Republican lawmakers and to deal with a business community coming under tougher regulatory scrutiny would be a challenge.

"The person can't have a blackened soul from Wall Street's sins, but also can't be a Democratic hack," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Obama thinks Geithner has done an excellent job and wants him to stay, and analysts say the president has plenty of reasons to try to persuade him to do so.

William Cline, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, says he thinks it is premature to talk about Geithner leaving.

[mikeydesignzinc]

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/debt...geithner-under

Debt Increased More Under Geithner Than Under Any Treasury Secretary in U.S. History

Thursday, June 30, 2011
By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner oversaw the largest increase in the national debt of any Treasury secretary in American history, presiding over a $3.7 trillion increase in the debt.

According to data from the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt, the national debt has increased $3,723,575,990,130.10 from Jan. 26, 2009 until June 30, 2011, Geithner’s entire tenure to date as Treasury secretary.

When Geithner took office the total national debt stood at $10.6 trillion. As of June 30, 2011, it had risen to $14.3 trillion.

In fact, the debt accrued under Geithner is greater than all federal debt accrued in the first 204 years of the nation’s history. The national debt did not reach $3.7 trillion until October 1991, according to historical Treasury data that reaches back to 1791.