confidence to consumers and markets alike laid out a timetable for the two sides to produce, at least the blue prohibit for bipartisan deal. timetable that now appears to have vanished. work on the thig recess. we ll meet with the friends and come back the first week. that is as i understand it. the white house called secretary geithner the lead player in ongoing talks with the house republicans adding he is to be joined by the top white house aides like jack lew and sperling. when asked if geithner showed up today at the house to negotiate, carney said he could not account for geithner it go precise whereabouts. bret? bret: james rosen live on the north lawn. thanks. none of that was encouraging to wall street today. the dow lost 89. the s&p 500 fell seven. the nasdaq dropped nine. one of the main talking points for both sides in the fiscal cliff negotiations but especially the republicans, making sure the u.s. does not become the next greece.
now part of the public discussion, the petraeus situation now looking at this investigation into general allen, and big shakeups that were expected to come anyway within the president s cabinet when we talk about at state, at defense and things like that, do you have a feeling which way the president is going to go first in terms of these cabinet slots to fill? i don t think anyone knows that except for the president. i world for him for six years. i know that he ll take advice from many different sources. a lot of qualified public servants and people to consider for any of the openings there will be. we know that secretary panetta said if or when he ll step down. he ll remain in that position for now. secretary of state said she would. secretary geithner said that he ll be there through the
people might see some small change in their take-home pay. that s usually enough to get congress focused. you need a crisis to get congress to do anything. remember, these are the same folks who took the united states right to the edge of a very real cliff when they didn t went to the very last minute to raise the debt ceiling. the same situation is going to happen this time but the deadline for raising the debt ceiling isn t january 1 or december 31. there are things that secretary geithner can do to extent the ceiling into february i m told. but you re right. folks keep ginning up the cliff language because as we all know congress doesn t do anything unless there s a lion or a dragon or a fire lit under their behind to get something done. i m torn about it because as a dramatist, i love cliffs. thank you for joining me tonight. coming up.
benghazi attack that left four americans dead could make a potential confirmation process in the senate a very rocky one. it is no secret senator john kerry head of the committee will be interested in the job. his open senate seat would anot massachusetts with democrats holding a solid majority in the senate it is something the white house would be open to explore. the president is willing to enter the responsibility of losing a senate seat if he wants john kerry badly enough. treasury secretary timothy geithner has expressed his desire to return to private life. with tax cuts set to expire the departure is likely to be delayed. people like secretary geithner have put a lot of energy into the issue related to the fiscal cliff. they are going to want to see it through. the same is true of defense secretary leon pineda who found
the fiscal cliff nxegotiations until they re completed and perhaps until a successor is confirmed? secretary geithner has indicated that he ll stay on through inauguration and he will be obviously, a key participant in the negotiations around the so-called fiscal cliff issues. so the president very much appreciates that. one last question. there have been reports that general petraeus has come to the white house as early as today to talk about his future. can you shed any light on that on whether he might be moving on in fact? you know i don t have any announcements to make on personnel matters. i ll address that question to the cia and the dni. is he coming to the white house today? not that i m aware of. yes. senator schumer has proposed one solution to the fiscal cliff challenge vis-a-vis tax rates is closing the loopholes as they