On Thursday the Gregg Hitt and Jacob Schlesinger reported on potential administration personnel changes in the Wall Street Journal
"On the economic team, Treasury Secretary John Snow and budget director Josh Bolten are expected to stay for a time. The other two main players - Steve Friedman, head of the National Economic Council, and Greg Mankiw, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors - are expected to leave soon."
Thursday's Journal also carried a reminder that Alan Greenspan's term will be up in January 2006, and that he can't be reappointed.
"A critical decision will be picking a successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. His 14-year term as Fed governor expires in January, 2006, and by law he can't serve another one. Many former administration officials put Harvard University's Martin Feldstein at the top of the list of favorites.
Mr. Feldstein was chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisors and has provided the intellectual underpinnings of some of Mr. Bush's economic policies, especially the idea of private Social Security accounts alongside the regular ones. Glenn Hubbard, the first chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, may also be considered, although at 46, his youth could be a drawback."
Gary Fields, Robert Block, and Greg Ip reported on other potential changes in Friday's Journal:
"The central question in economic policy is whether Treasury Secretary Snow remains. He campaigned heavily for President Bush, especially in his home state of Ohio - though he gave the Kerry campaign useful fodder by branding job losses there "a myth." He is seen in Congress as ineffectual, and that could make him expendable if Mr. Bush needs somebody stronger to push through tax and Social Security revisions.
But Mr. Bush may choose to run those revisions more through the White House. In that case, one of the little-known economic officials who could make a big difference over the coming year is Charles P. Blahous III, a former congressional staffer who is the top administration offical on Social Security overhaul.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson is expected to leave at some point during Mr. Bush's second term. Appointed originally as a caretaker to calm tensions after the scandals of his predecessor, Harvey Pitt, Mr. Donaldson has proved a more vigorous corporate reformer than Wall Street had expected. Many companies had complained to the White House and a second Bush term could bring the "potential for trying to undo what the SEC has done in the last few years," said one commission official."
Comments