MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Geithner sworn in to the toughest job: Treasury Secretary

Secretary Timothy Geithner

Timothy Geithner was sworn in as US Treasury Secretary within hours of the Senate approving his nomination on Monday. The confirmation by 60 votes to 34 was delayed due to concerns Mr Geithner had failed to pay previous taxes on time.

President Obama's nominee will have one of the toughest jobs in the new administration, as the US tries to get its economy back in shape. After he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden, Mr Geithner vowed to move quickly to aid the distressed economy. "We are at a moment of maximum challenge for our economy and our country," he said. "Our agenda is to move quickly to help you do what the country asked you to do," he told Mr Obama, who was standing at his side. Mr Obama has described Mr Geithner as the most qualified person to oversee his plans to revive the struggling US economy. Mr Geithner was formerly head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and worked as a Treasury undersecretary during the Clinton administration. He was considered by many to be an ideal candidate for the job because he has already been deeply involved in government efforts to prop up financial institutions and markets. On Thursday, a panel cleared the way for Mr Geithner's full nomination despite concern he failed to pay his taxes on time some years ago. He appeared before the Senate Finance Committee to apologise for what he called "careless mistakes" in failing to pay 34,000 US dollars in taxes he owed until shortly before he was nominated. Mr Geithner answered dozens of written questions from senators in a 102-page document reaffirming the Treasury's long-standing policy that "a strong dollar is in America's national interest". He also issued a stern warning to China, saying Mr Obama believed Beijing was "manipulating" its currency, using a term the Bush administration had deliberately avoided for years to describe Beijing's foreign exchange practices. A Chinese central bank official said that the bank had noted Mr Geithner's comments and reported them to relevant Chinese government departments. Mr Geithner also said the Treasury had no current plans to request more bailout money beyond the 700 billion US dollars already authorised, but that the situation was "dynamic". Geithner, 47, is married and has two children. He graduated from Dartmouth College and John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. According to his non official biography after completing his studies, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the US Treasury Department in 1988. He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998). He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. Summers was his mentor but other sources call him a Rubin protégé. In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department. At the IMF he was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003). In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He later became Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component and in 2006 he incorporated as member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty. In March 2008, he arranged the rescue and sale of Bear Stearns and later, in the same year, he is believed to have played a pivotal role in both the decision to bail out AIG as well as the government decision not to save Lehman Brothers from bankruptcy. As a Treasury official, he helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.