Barack Obama has pledged unwavering confidence in his Treasury secretary. As a rule, such expressions of loyalty would signal Tim Geithner’s imminent departure, but one hopes not in this case. Mr Geithner has had a far from flawless two months, but his difficulties are mainly not of his own making. If he should have to step down, it would be a serious blow to an administration which the US and the world desperately needs to succeed.

The Treasury secretary’s difficulties began before he even had the job, when errors in his taxes came to light during his confirmation. He survived, but some other forgetful tax-filers were not so lucky, which served to heighten his embarrassment and diminish his authority.