Thiessen: The GOP will win the debt-limit fight

WASHINGTON POST, 1/17/2011 by Marc Thiessen (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) - Let's be clear: Republicans have the upper hand in the coming fight over raising the federal debt limit. President Obama will push to raise the limit without giving Republicans the massive spending cuts they demand. But in the end he will cave. Read more at Washington Post... Read More......

Geithner Asks Congress to Increase Federal Debt Limit

WSJ: WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress to increase the $12.1 trillion debt limit on Friday, saying it is "critically important" that they act in the next two months. ∴ Mr. Geithner, in a letter to U.S. lawmakers, said that the Treasury projects that the current debt limit could be reached as early mid-October. Increasing the limit is important to instilling confidence in global investors, Mr. Geithner said. Read more at Wall Street Journal... Read More......

Breitbart: Treasury, key lawmaker differ on risk overseer

WASHINGTON (AP), 6/5/2009 - The Obama administration and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank are at odds over how the government can best spot potential institutional meltdowns that could spread and put the nation's financial system at risk. ∴ The differences between Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Frank, a key and influential congressional voice on banking, come as the administration prepares to send Congress a package of proposed regulatory changes designed to avert the crisis that struck the financial sector last year. ∴ Frank is promoting a plan to create a council of regulators, chaired by the Federal Reserve, that would identify financial behavior that could have negative systemwide consequences and would require institutions to reduce their level of risk, according to people who have been briefed on Frank's thinking. ∴ Geithner and the Federal Reserve have been pushing for the Federal Reserve to be the sole authority overseeing so-called systemic risk. But many lawmakers and some regulators believe such exclusive power would undermine other agencies that watch over financial institutions and give too much authority to the independent central bank. Read more at Breitbart... Read More......

NYT: The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M.

NEW YORK TIMES, 5/31/2009 by David E. Sanger, WASHINGTON — It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism. ∴ But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry. Read more at the NYT... Read More......

Geithner 'open' to China proposal

POLITICO, 3/25/2009, Ben Smith's Blog - Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is "open" to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China's central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more modest and "evolutionary."

"I haven’t read the governor’s proposal. He’s a very thoughtful, very careful distinguished central banker. I generally find him sensible on every issue," Geithner said, saying that however his interpretation of the proposal was to increase the use of International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights -- shares in the body held by its members -- not creating a new currency in the literal sense.

"We’re actually quite open to that suggestion – you should see it as rather evolutionary rather building on the current architecture rather than moving us to global monetary union," he said.

"The only thing concrete I saw was expanding the use of the [special drawing rights]," Geithner said. "Anything he’s thinking about deserves some consideration."

The continued use of the dollar as a reserve currency, he added, "depends..on how effective we are in the United States...at getting our fiscal system back to the point where people judge it as sustainable over time."

President Obama flatly rejected the notion of a new global currency at last night's press conference.

UPDATE: Evidently sensing a gaffe, moderator Roger Altman told Geithner that it would be "useful" to return to the question, and asked if he foresaw a change in the dollar's centrality.

"I do not," Geithner said, adding several forceful promises, including, "We will do what's necessary to say we're sustaining confidence in our financial markets." Read More......

Washington Post co-hosts online debate on rescue plan

In the Tanks: A Debate on the Financial Rescue Plan

[Washington Post] [w]ith Andres Martinez. Wednesday, February 11, 2009, Hat tip: John Detweiler

The Post partnered with Andres Martinez of the New America Foundation to host an online dialogue with Washington think tankers on the administration's announced strategy to stabilize the nation's financial system.

Andres Martinez (New America): The markets are underwhelmed by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's plan. But the policy response to the nation's credit freeze and the need to "bail out" the overleveraged financial sector is precisely the kind of subject that gets our adrenaline flowing at think tanks. So what do we think? Any surprises here? Is the administration doing enough (or too much) to fix the problem? These aren't easy questions, and I'm still not entirely clear on the overriding narrative of Geithner's plan. I can explain the stimulus to my four-year-old son, but I'd be hard pressed to explain the financial rescue to him -- or anyone else.

Dan Mitchell (Cato Institute): Geithner's bailout proposal is very disappointing. The economy is in a ditch in large part because of misguided government intervention. The best option would be to allow markets to operate. Unfortunately, Geithner has decided to continue the failed Paulson policy of hindering markets. He wants to prop up bankrupt institutions. He wants to hinder the natural and necessary reallocation of resources out of weak sectors of the economy (in this case, housing and finance). And he wants to create a "public-private" enterprise that almost surely will be a vehicle for ongoing -- perhaps permanent -- interference in private markets. Read entire exchange at the Washington Post...

Related article:
01/22/09 Washington Post: A Rush-and-Shush Rescue by David Ignatius (Hat tip: John D) Read More......

Treasury chief Geithner sworn in

BBC News - Timothy Geithner was sworn in as US Treasury Secretary within hours of the Senate approving his nomination Monday despite personal tax lapses. The vote was 60-34. FWIW: Ten Republicans voted 'yes' and 3 Democrats voted 'no').
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Oddly, the 'Ethics' page at www.whitehouse.gov is being revised...

The ethics section is currently being revised to reflect President Obama's Executive Order concerning Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, issued on January 21, 2009. Please check back soon.

Read More......