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Sunday, November 8, 
4:38 am

Obama huddles with his economic brain trust, but no treasury pick yet

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President-elect Barack Obama will meet with his economic advisory group Friday and then plans to hold his first press conference since winning the election on Nov. 4. The meeting will take place in Chicago, followed by a 2:30 p.m. EST press conference. However the president-elect is not expected to announce his hotly anticipated pick for treasury secretary just yet, campaign aides said.

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Obama's economic advisory group includes Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, Time Warner Inc.'s chairman Richard Parsons and Xerox Corp. chieftain Anne Mulcahy, as well as former government officials, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, former Fed Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson, former Commerce Secretary William Daley, former SEC Commissioners William Donaldson and Roel Campos, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Clinton adviser Laura Tyson.

On Wednesday The Deal's Ron Orol wrote that there were three finalists on Obama's short list to head treasury  secretary:

The choice of treasury secretary, arguable the most important Cabinet level job given the current economic crisis, should go to either New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner or New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, at least according to Stan Collender, managing director at Qorvis Communications in Washington. Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, is also in the running.
By Friday morning, the race, at least in the opinion of many Democrats, had narrowed to Geithner and Summers, Politico reported.

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing over 800 points over the last two days, Obama may speed up disclosure of his choices to lead the SEC and Treasury when his administration takes over, in the hope of reassuring jittery markets. Investors are eager to know what direction the banking bailout is headed in for 2009, as well as what stance the government will take on bailouts for the auto industry and the ballooning federal deficit.

- George White

See Politico story
See Dealscape post on finalists
See Dealscape post on horse race for Treasury post
See Dealscape post handicapping Obama cabinet posts
  



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