 Wall Street speculates on next Treasury secretary
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-01 07:57 Who would President Barack Obama or President John McCain choose as the next US Treasury secretary? With the election still more than four months away, Republican candidate McCain and Obama, his Democratic opponent, are focused on picking vice-presidential running mates. But that has not stopped Wall Street from mulling over possibilities for the top job at Treasury. "You would have to think that Phil Gramm is on the list for McCain," said Greg Valliere, chief strategist at Stanford Washington Research Group. Gramm, a vice-chairman for UBS Investment Bank and a former Texas senator, is a senior McCain campaign official. Also high on McCain's list would be former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, Valliere said. For Obama, some in the financial community are intrigued by the possibility of New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner, a former official in Bill Clinton's administration. "He's very popular on Wall Street. He understands the complexities of the markets and the credit crunch. He's got just a tremendous Rolodex," Valliere said. Both Valliere and Marc Chandler, a currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, said another potential candidate for Treasury secretary in an Obama administration would be Laura Tyson, a former top economic adviser to President Bill Clinton who is now teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. She has recently begun advising Obama. Depending on who wins the Nov 4 election, McCain, an Arizona senator, or Obama, an Illinois senator, would not begin any formal selection process for the Treasury post or any other Cabinet job until after the vote. President George W. Bush and his current Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, do not leave office until Jan 20 next year. Nevertheless, there is always strong interest among investors in speculation about the Treasury secretary, who manages a vast federal department involved in everything from printing coins to helping regulate banks. Important diplomatic role Markets look to the Treasury secretary as the main spokesman for US dollar policy, a crisis manager in times of economic turbulence and as one of the top - if not the top - adviser shaping a president's economic plans. Recent Treasury secretaries have also taken on an important diplomatic role. A top responsibility in Paulson's portfolio is taking the lead on sensitive discussions with Chinese officials on issues like currency and trade. A slumping US economy, sagging dollar and sinking stock prices amid the housing crisis and surge in oil prices have only heightened the interest in who will become the next president's most senior Cabinet adviser on the economy. In addition to Gramm and Fiorina, some in the market saw Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, a former adviser to President Ronald Reagan, as potential Treasury secretary material in a McCain administration. Some said McCain might also opt to try to persuade Paulson to stay on. Obama could consider asking former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to reprise his role. Or, if he wanted to follow a recent pattern of tapping former executives from venerable Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, there is New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, who recently appeared at a governors' forum with Obama. Agencies (China Daily 07/01/2008 page11) |
