Family and education
Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the
German town of
Zeulenroda to
Philadelphia in 1908.
[9] His father, Peter F. Geithner, was the director of the
Asia program at the
Ford Foundation in
New York in the 1990s. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's
microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by
Ann Dunham Soetoro, President
Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.
[10] Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in
Orleans, Massachusetts where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President
Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as Vice President of Public Relations from 1952-1964 for
Ford Motor Company.
[11][edit]Early career
Treasury Secretary designee Geithner meets Finance Committee Chairman
Max Baucus on November 25, 2008
In March 2008, he arranged the rescue and sale of
Bear Stearns.
[12][21] In the same year, he played a supporting role to
Henry Paulson, former CEO of
Goldman Sachs, in the decision to bail out
AIG just two days after deciding not to rescue
Lehman Brothers from
bankruptcy. Some
Wall Street CEOs subsequently expressed the opinion that decisions in which Geithner participated, especially the failure to rescue Lehman, contributed to worsening the global financial crisis.
[22] As a Treasury official, he helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s
[14] in
Brazil,
Mexico,
Indonesia,
South Korea, and
Thailand.
[15][edit]Secretary of the Treasury
Geithner speaking at the United States Department of Treasury.
[edit]Nomination
[edit]Personal tax issues
At the Senate confirmation hearings, it was revealed that Geithner had not paid $35,000 in
self-employment taxes for the years 2001–2004.
[26] The
International Monetary Fund (IMF), an international agency and his employer during the time in question, did not withhold
FICA taxes, but instead reimbursed the usual employer responsibility of 50% of these taxes to employees who were subject to the taxes. Geithner had received the reimbursements, and paid the amounts received to the government, but had not paid the other 50% which would normally have been withheld from his pay. This failure to pay was noted during a 2006 audit by the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in which Geithner was assessed additional taxes of $14,847 for the 2003 and 2004 tax years. The statute of limitations had expired for 2001 and 2002, and Geithner did not file amended returns or pay the additional amounts due for those years until after Obama expressed his intent to nominate Geithner to be Secretary of the Treasury.
[27][28][29] He also deducted the cost of his children's sleep-away camp as a dependent care expense, when only expenses for day care are eligible for the deduction.
[29] Geithner subsequently paid the IRS the additional taxes owed,
[30] and was charged $15,000 interest, but was not fined for late payment.
[31]In a statement to the
Senate Finance Committee, Geithner called the tax issues "careless", "avoidable" and "unintentional" errors, and he said he wanted to "apologize to the committee for putting you in the position of having to spend so much time on these issues".
[30] Geithner testified that he used
TurboTax to prepare his 2001 return, but that the tax errors were his own responsibility.
[32][33] The Obama campaign stated that Geithner was advised by his accountant that he did not owe any taxes beyond those assessed by the IRS following the 2006 audit.
[34] Geithner said at the hearing that he had always believed he was an employee, not a self-employed contractor, while serving at the IMF.
[35][edit]Confirmation
Geithner is sworn in as Treasury Secretary
[edit]Bank bailout
Geithner has the authority to decide what to do with the second
tranche of $350 billion from the $700 billion banking bailout bill passed by Congress in October 2008. He is not mandated to seek Congressional approval, but went to Congress on February 10–11, 2009 to explain his plans. He proposes to create one or more "bad banks" to buy and hold toxic assets, using a mix of taxpayer and private money. He also proposes to expand a lending program that would spend as much as $1 trillion to cover the decline in the issuance of securities backed by consumer loans. He further proposes to give banks new infusions of capital with which to lend. In exchange, banks would have to cut the salaries and perks of their executives and sharply limit dividends and corporate acquisitions.
[39][40] The plan has been criticized by
Nobel-prize winning economist
Paul Krugman[41] as well as fellow Nobel laureate and former
World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz.
[42][edit]AIG bonuses
Although President Obama expressed strong support for Geithner, the outrage over the
AIG bonuses has undermined public support.
AIGpaid bonuses to executives in its Financial Services division after receiving more than $170 billion in federal bailout aid.
[43] Even prior to the election, senior aides to Timothy Geithner have closely dealt with
American International Group Inc. on compensation issues including bonuses, both from his time as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as Treasury secretary. In early November, 2008, a committee concluded that the bonuses, which were in contracts signed before the government takeover, couldn't be legally blocked. On March 3, 2009, appearing at a hearing of the
House Ways and Means Committee Rep.
Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, asked him about the bonuses that AIG would be paying to financial-products employees "in the coming weeks." On March 11, Geithner called Mr. Edward Liddy, AIG chief, to protest the bonus payouts. Mr. Geithner and
Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke attended a hearing by Congress on March 24, 2009.
[44][edit]AIG payments to banks
In November 2009,
Neil Barofsky, the Treasury Department Inspector General responsible for oversight of TARP funds, issued a report critical of the use of $62.1 billion of government funds to redeem derivative contracts held by several large banks which AIG had insured against losses. The banks received face value for the contracts although their market value at the time was much lower. In the report, Barofsky said the payments "provided [the banks] with tens of billions of dollars they likely would have not otherwise received". Terms for use of the funds had been negotiated with the
New York Federal Reserve Bank while Geithner was president.
Geithner and his predecessor, former Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson, both appeared before the Committee on January 27. Geithner defended the bailout of AIG and the payments to the banks, while reiterating previous denials of any involvement in efforts to withhold details of the transactions. His testimony was met with skepticism and angry disagreement by House members of both parties.
[49][50][51][52]
Geithner with Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton at the opening session of the first U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue on July 27, 2009.
In written comments to the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearings, Geithner stated that the new administration believed
China was "manipulating"
its currency and that the Obama administration would act "aggressively" using "all the diplomatic avenues" to change China's currency practices.
[53] The Obama administration would pressure China diplomatically to change this practice, more strongly than the
George W. Bush Administration did.
[54] The United States maintained that China's actions hurt American businesses and contributed to the financial crisis.
[55]Shortly after assuming his role as Secretary of the Treasury, Geithner met in Washington with Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi. He told Yang that the U.S. attached great importance to
its relations with China and that U.S.–China cooperation was essential in order for the world economy to fully recover.
[56]On June 1, 2009, during a question-and-answer session following a speech at
Peking University, Geithner was asked by a student whether Chinese investments in U.S. Treasury debt were safe. His reply that they were "very safe" drew laughter from the audience.
[57][58][edit]Opposing extension of tax cuts
In summer, 2010, Geithner "is President Obama’s point man in opposing the extension of the
Bush tax cuts for the wealthy after their Dec. 31 expiration. ... [Geithner] has cited the projected $700 billion, 10-year cost of the tax cuts, and nonpartisan analyses that they do not stimulate the economy because the wealthy tend to save the additional money rather than spend it. 'I believe there is no credible argument to be made that the purpose of government is to borrow from future generations of Americans to finance an extension of tax cuts for the top 2 percent,' [he] said in a recent speech." One journalist has argued that this initiative injects more
Populism into his policy portfolio, in line with the Administration's inclination.
[59][edit]Criticism
Geithner weathered criticism early in the Obama presidency, when Republican Rep.
Connie Mack of Florida suggested he should resign over the AIG bonus scandal and Alabama Senator
Richard Shelby said that Geithner was "out of the loop". Democrats largely joined Obama in supporting Geithner, and there was no serious talk of him losing his job.
[60]In November, 2009, Geithner again came under fire from members of both the
Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Republican Party.
Oregon Representative
Peter DeFazio suggested that both Geithner and
Lawrence Summers, the director of the
National Economic Council, should be fired in order to curtail
unemployment and signal a new direction for the Obama administration's fiscal policy. "We think it is time, maybe, that we turn our focus to Main Street," said DeFazio, speaking for himself and some fellow members of the Progressive Caucus.
[61]When Geithner appeared in front of the
Congressional Joint Economic Committee, the ranking House Republican,
Kevin Brady of
Texas, said to the secretary, "Conservatives agree that, as point person, you've failed. Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows the public has lost confidence in this president's ability to handle the economy. For the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?" Geithner defended his record, suggesting Brady was misrepresenting the situation and overestimating popular disapproval of his job performance.
[62]
Geithner married Carole Sonnenfeld on June 8, 1985, at his parents' summer home in
Orleans, Massachusetts. She was working as a research associate for
Common Cause at the time. Her father, Albert Sonnenfeld, was a professor of French and comparative literature at
Princeton University, and her mother, Portia Sonnenfeld, was the conductor of the Chamber Symphony of
Princeton.
[63] They have two children, a daughter and a son.
[64]
7:42 AM
Wikipedia
Posted in: powerfull celebrity
0 comments:
Post a Comment