"PRESIDENT BARACK HUSEIN OBAMA,
STRUGGLING TO FIND STAFF FOR
TREASURY ROLES".
"06.03.2009. 21:12.h."Alarm is growing that President Obama’s Administration, as it seeks to navigate a course away from the jagged rocks of the worst recession in a generation, lacks hands on deck. Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, is being forced to operate virtually on his own without any of the 17 deputies his department is supposed to have representing him in important negotiations or helping make crucial decisions.
"British officials and other diplomatic sources are already privately expressing concern that the crucial G20 summit in London, now less than a month away, could be disrupted by the US failing to prepare properly for the talks".
"Gordon Brown used his visit to Washington this week to underline the need for urgent and co-ordinated international agreement on how to thaw frozen credit markets, stabilise the banking sector and reform financial institutions such as the IMF".
"Although it is understood that there is no serious dispute with Washington on such measures, the prospect of American negotiators “coming late to the table" where they might suddenly raise objections or propose alternative measures threatens to undermine the chances of sealing what the Prime Minister has called a "global new deal".
"Yesterday it emerged that two expected nominees for Treasury posts were bowing out of the confirmation process. Annette Nazareth and Caroline Atkinson, who were thought to be Mr Geithner’s choices for Deputy Secretary and Undersecretary of International Affairs, announced that they had stepped aside for "personal reasons".
"Obama Stumbles".
"No excuses if Obama can't fix recession".
"At a congressional hearing last week, Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who chairs a panel giving Mr Obama economic advice, described the shortage of senior appointments at the Treasury as "shameful". He said: "The secretary of the Treasury is sitting there without a deputy, without any undersecretaries, without any as far as I know, assistant secretaries responsible in substantive areas at a time of very severe crisis. He shouldn’t be sitting there alone".
"Management of the $700 billion, "£496 billion" bailout of financial institutions is, for instance, still being handled by Neel Kashkari, a Bush administration official who is likely to be replaced. Both Mr Geithner and the White House have indicated that nominations to fill top Treasury posts are in the pipeline. But an enhanced vetting process – introduced after Tom Daschle was forced to withdraw from consideration as Health Secretary after disclosures of unpaid taxes – is causing severe delays".
"Although Ms Nazareth was reported to have passed her White House vetting, there were indications that Congressional Republicans were preparing to attack her record at the Security And Exchange Commission, which has been heavily criticised for overlooking Wall Street scandals such as Bernie Madoff’s “Ponzi scheme".
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