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| Geithner gets tough questions from Senate panel | |
| 2009-03-13 | |
| Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner found himself at ground zero of U.S. economic discontent on Thursday. He faced tough questions at a Senate hearing on President Barack Obama's $3.55 trillion budget plan and other big-spending items that will leave America heavily in debt, and he expressed confidence. "We are a strong and productive country. This is about our will, not about our ability," he said. It has been an uneasy transition to Washington for Geithner, the 47-year-old former New York Federal Reserve wunderkind who survived his own tax problems to gain Senate confirmation as treasury secretary. Stocks dropped sharply last month after Geithner's bank rescue plan was criticized for lacking details and clarity. He was parodied last week in a satirical skit on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in which a Geithner impersonator offered toll-free hotline callers a $420 billion cash reward if they could come up with a workable plan to fix ailing banks. He is still working without top deputies, although the White House last weekend put forward several nominees for other senior positions. In a fresh setback on Thursday, prominent Wall Street lawyer Rodgin Cohen withdrew from consideration to be the No. 2 official, the second person to have done so within a week. "The president has great confidence in his economic team," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters when asked about Geithner's credibility with some financial market players. U.S. stock markets have swooned since Obama took office on January 20, but have clawed their way back a bit as the administration has tried to address the discontent and repair public confidence this week.
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| Posted by:Fred |