Tim Geithner is leaving at the end of Obama's first term so the speculation for who will be the next Treasury Secretary is running hot.
Billionaire Warren Buffett has just thrown his pick out. He told TV host Charlie Rose that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon would be the best man for the job.
“If we did run into problems in markets, I think he would actually be the best person you could have in the job,” Buffett said in response to a question about Dimon from Charlie Rose, according to the transcript of an interview that was scheduled to air yesterday on PBS. “World leaders would have confidence in him....”
And about that $6 billion trading lost JP Morgan suffered earlier this year... Buffett thinks it shows Dimon knows how to handle intense pressure.
“Obviously, you know, there was a failure of control,” Buffett, 82, said to Rose about the trading loss. “If you run an army, if you run a church, if you run a government, any large institution, people will go off the reservation sometimes.”
People have been throwing out names left and right for who could/should fill the job. Erskin Bowels has already taken himself out, but other names like former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair and White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew are still red hot.
In terms of Wall Streeters, Jamie Dimon's name hasn't really been mentioned. The ones we're hearing are Evercore founder Roger Altman (he has Treasury experience) and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
