As the US debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic project after the government’s debt ceiling was lifted, noted tax cheat Timothy Geithner may resign,
After the resolution of the debt-ceiling impasse, rumors have been flying that the last senior member of Barack Obama’s original economic team will call it quits. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner refused to answer questions about his plans yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America
The rumor is that Jon Corzine may take the job.
Interestingly, MF Global, Corzine’s employer, just added what the Wall Street Journal calls a “quirky clause“,
Mr. Corzine’s current employer, MF Global Holdings Ltd., is promising to compensate investors who buy his company’s bonds with an interest-rate bump if the chief executive and former U.S. senator jumps ship for a government job. In essence, the securities deal assigns a value on the man filling the corner office: a one-percentage-point cherry atop the $300 million bond offering, or up to $15 million.
And not just “any job”, either (emphasis added),
According to a “Key Man Event” clause in the bond prospectus, the carrot doesn’t kick in for any old government job. Rather, it gets paid only if Mr. Corzine leaves MF Global “due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States,” and the Senate confirms him before July 1, 2013. That is nearly six months into the next presidential term.
MF Global’s value hasn’t improved during Corzine’s tenure, but it certainly looks like someone will make a bundle from his departure.
UPDATE,
The NYT headline reads, “Pressured by White House, Treasury Secretary Is Expected to Stay at Post“, but, as Doug Mataconis points out,
The New York Times gives this story the headline “Pressured by White House, Treasury Secretary Is Expected to Stay at Post,” but from the tone of the article it’s pretty clear that this is what the White House officials quoted in the story hope is the case. Indeed, the story itself may be an effort to turn the lobbying of Geithner up a notch.
Clearly, the NYT is not in the MF Global orbit.