By Michael M. PhillipsTreasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the economy has now recovered sufficiently for government to begin to make way for private business investment.Mr. Geithner’s comments on Sunday, which echo previous sentiments expressed by President Barack Obama, reflect a turning point in the government response to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, a period marked by deep federal intervention in the financial, housing, auto and other industries.“We need to make that transition now to a recovery led by private investment,” Mr. Geithner said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Mr. Geithner hit two Sunday talk shows, delivering the Obama administration’s message that the economy was recovering, but warning that high unemployment would continue to linger.“I think the most likely thing is you’ll see an economy that gradually strengthens over the next year or two,Lacoste shoes, you’ll see job growth start to come back, investments expanding … but we’ve got a long way to go still,” Mr. Geithner said.The Treasury secretary predicted that the Obama administration’s plan to allow Bush-era tax cuts for the richest Americans to expire at year’s end wouldn’t stall the economic recovery. Mr. Obama has expressed desire to keep the tax cuts in place for individuals making less than $200,ugg slovenija,000 a year and families making less than $250,000.Mr. Geithner said the move would help reassure foreign countries — big buyers of U.S. debt � that Washington was serious about reining in deficits as the crisis eases.“I do not believe it will have a negative effect on growth,” Mr. Geithner said of the tax plan, which would require congressional approval.Republicans and several Democrats have called for all of the Bush tax cuts to be extended beyond year-end to avoid rocking the economy.Mr. Geithner predicted, however, that there was enough support in Congress for Mr. Obama to get his way on the tax issue.At the same time,Louis vuitton tenisky, Mr. Obama has been pressing for fresh federal aid to cash-strapped states and new tax breaks for small business. “Right now, the best thing the government can do, in addition to those things, is help create the conditions for the private sector to start to invest in hiring again,” Mr. Geithner told ABC’s “This Week.”Even as he predicted a gradual reduction of government presence in the overall economy, Mr. Geithner said the government should keep a hand in the housing market, which has begun to sputter anew now that government tax credits for new homebuyers have expired.“There’s going to be a good case for the government preserving some type of guarantee to make sure people have the ability to borrow to finance a house even in a very damaging recession,” he said on “Meet the Press.”He said the administration would begin developing such a program very soon. “We’re going to take a careful look at a set of reforms that are going to be good for the country going forward and don’t leave us vulnerable to this kind of crisis in the future,” Mr. Geithner said.By EditorCongress is docking its own paysort offor not having finished its work this year. Before going home, the House is slated to approve a stopgap funding bill tonight to keep the government running through Feb. 15th. The measure is needed because lawmakers have failed to complete most of the appropriations for the 2007 fiscal year than began Oct. 1. Rather than risk a fight with Senate Democrats, House Republicans have modified their stopgap bill to add language that would also defer until Feb 16 a scheduled cost-of-living pay increase for members.

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