Tim Geithner, David Brooks, E.J. Dionne, Anita Dunn, Marc Morial, Rick Santelli
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MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, the president signs financial regulation this week as part of what the administration calls "recovery summer." But where are the jobs? The Fed chief says the future is uncertain. Will things get worse before they get better? Plus, how Washington's debate about your taxes will affect economic growth. It's all part of my one-on-one discussion this morning with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Then, the rush to judge Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod.
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SEC'Y TOM VILSACK: This is a good woman. She's been put through hell. And I could have done and should have done a better job.
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MR. ROBERT GIBBS: How did we not ask the right questions? How did you all not ask the right questions? How did other people not ask the right questions?
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MR. GREGORY: What does this episode say about racially-charged politics, the media, and the post-racial presidency of Barack Obama? Our roundtable weighs in: president of the National Urban League, Marc Morial; former White House adviser Anita Dunn; a man often credited with helping to spark the tea party movement, CNBC's Rick Santelli; New York Times columnist David Brooks; and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne.
Announcer: From NBC News in Washington, MEET THE PRESS with David Gregory.
MR. GREGORY: Good morning. A summer of anxiety over jobs, the economy, and government borrowing as new polling this week shows President Obama's job approval rating, handling the nation's economy, at a new low. On Friday I sat down with the administration's top economic official, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Mr. Secretary, welcome back to the program. Thank you for having us down to your office.
SEC'Y TIMOTHY GEITHNER: Good to see you, David.
MR. GREGORY: I want to ask you about some of the broader economic outlooks that we've heard across the, the spectrum this week, an important one from the Fed chairman, Bernanke, who said this week the outlook is "unusually uncertain." And I wonder if, to you, to the president, that means you fear that things are going to get worse before they get better?
SEC'Y GEITHNER: I don't think there's anything unusual about the fact that given the severity of this crisis, this recession, given how bad it was just 18 months ago, that Americans are still living with some caution, some sense of caution about the future. I think that's natural, unavoidable. But, you know, the economy's now been growing for almost a year, little more than a year. Private sector's creating jobs again. The economy is starting to heal again. You're seeing growth. Manufacturing, private investment have recovered. Those are encouraging signs. But we're living still with a lot of challenge still because the scars of this crisis ran so deep. And I think most Americans understand it's going to take some time to heal this.
MR. GREGORY: But "unusually uncertain." There's the prospect of a double-dip recession. There are economists who've said you don't normally see this kind of anemic pace of recovery once a recovery begins.
SEC'Y GEITHNER: I, I think I disagree slightly in the sense that, you know, remember, this was a recession caused by a set of policies that left us with a $1.3 trillion deficit when the president came into office, an economy that was falling off the cliff. Millions of Americans had already lost their jobs. The recession was a year old at that point. And given that we've been living beyond our means as a country, Americans have been borrowing too much, and you had a huge growth in risk taking and leverage in the financial system, what you would expect is a more moderate pace for recovery than is typical. And that's what we're seeing. But again, you are seeing recovery. You're seeing private investment expand again, job growth starting to come back, and that's very encouraging. And if you look at what private forecasters say about the economy, they see an economy that's going to continue to grow, strengthen moderately over the next 18 months or so. And I talked to businesses across the country, and I would say that is the general view, an economy that is gradually getting better.
MR. GREGORY: So just to be precise, you do not believe in a double-dip recession, that it will get worse before it gets better?
SEC'Y GEITHNER: No, I don't. I think the most likely thing is, you see an economy that gradually strengthens over the next year or two, you see job growth start to come back again. Again, investments expanding, manufacturing's getting a little stronger, export's better. Those are very encouraging signs. But we got a long way to go still.
MR. GREGORY: You see this magazine I have, The Week, and, and the headline is "Where are the jobs? The recession is over, but no one is hiring." Why is particularly private sector hiring apparently so slow?
SEC'Y GEITHNER: They're--I think businesses across the country, you know, again, faced with the prospect of an economy falling off the cliff, are still cautious, still very cautious. So they've been trying to get as much productivity out of their employees as possible. They're in a very strong financial conditions, though, and I think that's very promising, because there's a lot of pent-up demand and there's a lot of capacity still for them to step up and start to invest and hire again. But you're seeing it start. You know, we've had six months of private sector job growth. Not as fast as we like, not as fast as we need, but I think you're going to see it, again, gradually start to get better.
MR. GREGORY: But why are, why are businesses uncertain? Is it what's happened in Europe, in Greece, and in other places? I mean, in other words, businesses are making money, they've got cash, but they don't seem to want to invest it yet.
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