Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry Paulson is set to replace Secretary Snow:
Treasury Secretary John Snow has resigned and will be replaced by Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry M. Paulson Jr., a senior administration official said Tuesday, in another chapter of a White House shake-up to revive President Bush’s troubled presidency.
Bush was to announce the changes in a White House ceremony later Tuesday.
Snow, the former head of railroad giant CSX Corp. who has a Ph.D. in economics, has been Treasury secretary since February 2003. His departure has been rumored for more than a year.
Paulson has been chairman of Goldman Sachs for more than eight years. It is considered one of the premier financial firms on Wall Street and has sent a number of its top executives to high positions in Washington.
Robert Rubin, one of Paulson’s predecessors, served as Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, and Jon Corzine, another Goldman Sachs chairman, served as a U.S. senator from New Jersey and is now governor of that state.
Speculation that Paulson would take over from Snow increased after Bush shook up his White House staff earlier this year, replacing Andrew Card as his chief of staff with Joshua Bolten, a former Goldman Sachs executive who had worked with Paulson.
Snow has called Paulson “a very able executive, a friend of mine.”
Reuters reports that President Bush will make the announcement this morning at 9:15 am.
During his press conference with Tony Blair on May 25th our President told us, in response to a question, that Snow had his confidence. He knew of no plans for Snow to leave. Five days earlier the new guy had already accepted. When asked about it today Snow said it, the Prez’s comment was necessary so it would not shake the market. Ok never mind..the president knows Snow is leaving but it’s okey to mislead us because it is in our interest…check it out for yourself…