Treasury Secretary does not work for the United States

The PPJ Gazette ^ | March 24, 2009 | Marti Oakley

[ConservativeMind]

Some food for thought. There are additional resources below the article.

Does anyone else have more on this complicated interrelationship?

What spawned my search was this article from a respected IT website out of England.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/1563620/happy-thanksgiving-america

[ConservativeMind]

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/1563620/happy-thanksgiving-america

[US Navy Vet]

HUH!

[papasmurf]

Honestly, I’m floored by this revelation. I need to do some research of my own now.

Thanks!

[Blogger]

bump

[devere]

Truly bizarre!

[Hawthorn]

Absolute, total, ridiculous nonsense.

[x]

The appointment of a Secretary of the Treasury is just that, an appointment to a position which is NOT a cabinet position in any administration. The S.o.T. is the [governor] appointed to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is not an officer of the United States, is not a cabinet member and does not represent the interests of the United States. His position is as liaison between the federal government and the IMF. His obligation is to the IMF, not to the United States. The secretary of the Treasury is not sworn into office as cabinet members are, and take no oaths to the United States.

Nonsense. You might as well say our Ambassador to the UN isn't a US official.

For the record, Geithner did have a swearing-in ceremony.

Whether he's going to keep his oath to the Constitution is another matter.

[ConservativeMind]

I hate to say it, but this is the legal code that covers our Treasury Secretary NOT being paid by the US:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/22/286a.html

Straight from Cornell Law School archives.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Somebody better tell the Constitution, it’s got the Treasury Secretary 5th in the Presidential line of Succession. :-)

It scares me how ignorant some people are, and how these ignorant people can get a lot of other people to believe what they say.

The Treasury Secretary is a cabinet official, one of the oldest cabinet officials (which is why the position is 5th in succession). Alexander Hamilton was the first Treasury Secretary, under George Washington.

My guess is that Geithner says “your government” because he is just as embarrased as the rest of us about what Obama is doing.

[centurion316]

Alexander Hamilton would be very surprised to hear that this is the case. The Secretary of the Treasury was, in his day, an officer of the United States. Remains true today.

[ßuddaßudd]

bookmark

[ConservativeMind]

To add to the confusion, from the US Treasury website, it states the Treasury Secretary does take the same oath other cabinet officials say, and that he is paid from the General Fund.

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/treasury/officials.shtml#2

[Hawthorn]

>> this is the legal code that covers our Treasury Secretary NOT being paid by the US <<

It’s nothing of the kind. Read it and you’ll see.

Period. Full stop. End of story.

[x]

No person shall be entitled to receive any salary or other compensation from the United States for services as a Governor, executive director, councillor, alternate, or associate.

Key phrase, "for services as a Governor ..."

Presumably Geithner gets money from the US for what he does with the rest of his time.

Or do you think he gets nothing from Uncle Sam for holding such a high office?

[x]

Then again, maybe the government is garnishing his salary until he pays off all those back taxes ...

[ConservativeMind]

(d) Compensation for services

(1) No person shall be entitled to receive any salary or other compensation from the United States for services as a Governor, executive director, councillor, alternate, or associate.

(2) The United States executive director of the Fund shall not be compensated by the Fund at a rate in excess of the rate provided for an individual occupying a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5. The United States alternate executive director of the Fund shall not be compensated by the Fund at a rate in excess of the rate provided for an individual occupying a position at level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5.

My guess is that, reading between the two legal references above, the Secretary of the Treasury does not get paid by the government but is allowed to be paid from the general fund that is managed by the FED and its entities, but only paid to the amount that is under a "level IV" pay grade.

[ConservativeMind]

Guys, I have been able to find that the US Treasury Secretary does take the same oath the other Cabinet officers do, and that he receives a salary from the US General Fund as the US Governor of the IMF (but, strangely, NOT from the US in so doing); however, it also appears he is not precluded from receiving additional monies as US Treasury Secretary.

Some of this refutes the original two articles I posted. This new information is available in these two links posted elsewhere in this thread:

Stated Oath and Payment for Treasury Secretary From General Fund:
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/treasury/officials.shtml

Additional salary NOT from the US government but, strangely, from the US government’s “Fund:”
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/22/usc_sec_22_00000286-—a000-.html

[cranked]

Here’s some further food for thought: Permanently get rid of the Treasury Secretary position.

[JasonC]

Lying nonsense, start to finish.

Secretary of the treasury is one of the original cabinet posts and remains so. It dates to George Washington, whose secretary of the treasury was Alexander Hamilton - a century and a half before the world bank (formed after WW I) or the IMF (formed after WW II) existed.

The treasury's funds are deposited at the federal reserve, not the world bank or IMF. The US has a modest SDR account at the IMF and is a creditor to both it and the world bank, but all of the transactions accounts of the treasury are handled by the Fed.

This post is yet another example of the general proposition that populist finance-haters will believe and spread any lie imaginable if it defames the US government and American capitalism. This isn't new. It has been the sport of wild idiotic conspiracy theories for decades, and in some forms dates back to Jackson's presidency - but you will notice democrats have usually been behind peddling it.