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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said
Tuesday it would be "deeply irresponsible" for the Obama
administration to support a wholesale extension of Bush era tax
cuts, including breaks for the wealthy.


      Geithner said in a nationally broadcast interview that President
Barack Obama strongly believes those reductions should be retained
for the "95 percent" of taxpayers with individual incomes under
$200,000 a year and families below $250,000.


      And he disagreed with accusations the administration has been
hostile to Wall Street and the business community.


      Asked about former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan
Greenspan's statement that he hadn't seen such animosity between
Washington and Wall Street in decades, Geithner said Obama had a
deep obligation "to fix what was broken. There was nobody here or
across the country that would argue that our system worked."


      "The business community always wants their taxes lowered,"
Geithner said, calling that understandable.


      On another matter, the secretary said he wouldn't be surprised
if the 9.5 percent national unemployment rate ticks up again Friday
when the Labor Department releases figures for July.


      "It's possible you're going to have a couple months where it
goes up," he said, "as people start to come back into the labor
force. ... That can cause the measured unemployment rate to go
up."


      Geithner acknowledged the economy is "not coming back as
quickly as we'd like."


      He said he didn't know if Congress would act on the issue of the
tax cut extension before the midterm elections this November, but
that "it is the responsibility" of lawmakers to ensure that the
issue doesn't fall victim to Capitol Hill gridlock.


      Asked on ABC's "Good Morning America" how long he planned to
stay in Obama's Cabinet, Geithner replied: "I will stay as long as
he asks me to stay."
      

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said
Tuesday it would be "deeply irresponsible" for the Obama
administration to support a wholesale extension of Bush era tax
cuts, including breaks for the wealthy.


Geithner defends Obama policy on tax cut extension

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