STOCK MARKET WATCH - Thursday, 26 January 2012

[Demeter]

55. THIS IS RICH! Geithner Says Obama Won’t Ask Him to Remain Past First Term

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-25/geithner-doesn-t-expect-obama-to-ask-him-to-stay-if-he-wins-re-election.html

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the last member of the Obama administration’s original economic team, said he doesn’t expect to remain in office if the president is re-elected.

“He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.”

Geithner, 50, has led President Barack Obama’s efforts to pull the U.S. economy out of the worst recession since World War II, including overseeing bailouts of automakers General Motors Co. (GM) and Chrysler Group LLC, which have since emerged from bankruptcy. Before joining the administration in 2009, Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, playing a key role in the government’s rescue packages for banks such as Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC)

In the interview, Geithner said he would do “something else” after leaving the Treasury Department, without specifying what that would be. In August, an administration official said Geithner would stay in his job at least through this year’s presidential election...

YVES SMITH SAYS: " Before you get too cheerful, January 2012 is a long time away, and there are plenty of not as well known bad dudes to fill his shoes."