Thursday
Nov192009
Congressmen Ask Geithner To Resign
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 4:08PM
By Julianne LaJeunesse - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Hopefully, no one told U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that pitching the Obama administration’s financial reform plan to Congress was going to be painless. During a heated Joint Economic Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Republican Reps. Michael Burgess (Texas) and Kevin Brady (Texas) called on Geithner to step down, telling him that his work is not adequately serving Americans.
“Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed,” Brady argued. “Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows the public has lost confidence in this President’s ability to handle this economy... for the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?”
Geithner responded to Brady by saying he’s privileged to serve in his position, but did not give the Congressman an answer. Responding to Brady’s concerns over unemployment and the types of jobs lost, Geithner remarked, “Almost nothing in what you said represents a fair and accurate perception of where this economy is today.”
The purpose of Geithner's visit to the Hill, his second in as many days, was to encourage lawmakers to include four elements that he argued, “are critical to a strong package of [regulatory reform] legislation.”
Among them: Forcing non-banks who act as banks to be subjected to the same safeguards as recognized monetary institutions; accountability that includes a proposed council that will ensure that banks, regardless of size, work on a level playing field; a more capable financial system that will better absorb shocks and failures and adoption of a “no institution should be considered too big to fail” motto, which Geithner explained would be enforced by the government under “resolution authority.”
“This emergency authority, what we call resolution authority, has to be designed to facilitate the orderly demise of a failing firm...not ensure its survival,” he said. "Any risk of loss, must be recouped from the largest institutions, in proportion to their size. The financial industry, not the taxpayers, need to be on the hook.”
Hopefully, no one told U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that pitching the Obama administration’s financial reform plan to Congress was going to be painless. During a heated Joint Economic Committee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Republican Reps. Michael Burgess (Texas) and Kevin Brady (Texas) called on Geithner to step down, telling him that his work is not adequately serving Americans.
“Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed,” Brady argued. “Liberals are growing in that consensus as well. Poll after poll shows the public has lost confidence in this President’s ability to handle this economy... for the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?”
Geithner responded to Brady by saying he’s privileged to serve in his position, but did not give the Congressman an answer. Responding to Brady’s concerns over unemployment and the types of jobs lost, Geithner remarked, “Almost nothing in what you said represents a fair and accurate perception of where this economy is today.”
The purpose of Geithner's visit to the Hill, his second in as many days, was to encourage lawmakers to include four elements that he argued, “are critical to a strong package of [regulatory reform] legislation.”
Among them: Forcing non-banks who act as banks to be subjected to the same safeguards as recognized monetary institutions; accountability that includes a proposed council that will ensure that banks, regardless of size, work on a level playing field; a more capable financial system that will better absorb shocks and failures and adoption of a “no institution should be considered too big to fail” motto, which Geithner explained would be enforced by the government under “resolution authority.”
“This emergency authority, what we call resolution authority, has to be designed to facilitate the orderly demise of a failing firm...not ensure its survival,” he said. "Any risk of loss, must be recouped from the largest institutions, in proportion to their size. The financial industry, not the taxpayers, need to be on the hook.”
Geithner Calls For Multilateral Focus On Economic Recovery
By AJ Swartwood
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called upon nations Wednesday to continue to working together to sustain the tenuous global economy as it moves toward recovery.
In a speech at the Brookings Institution, Geithner hailed the progress the world’s nations have made in collaborating on economic issues calling it “the most productive era of cooperation we have seen in peacetime.” Geithner urged continued efforts to keep the focus on unified, multilateral approaches to solving financial issues.
“The greatest challenge to the global economy today is that the largest economies under-achieve on growth,” he said, mentioning that that projected economic growth of the world in 2011 is projected at around 4%, with the large, developed economies lagging behind.
Geithner addressed the issue of currency devaluation, with a particular focus on China, and called for an end to the increasingly common practice amongst growing economic powers of reducing currency value.
Although the House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would restrict China’s ability to keep their currency undervalued, concerns still remain, and Geithner acknowledged a need for more multilateral measures to solve the problem.
“China will be less likely to move, to allow its currency to appreciate more rapidly if it’s not confident that other countries will move with it.”
Geithner’s message of multilateralism was appropriate as the world’s financial leaders, the I.M.F. and World Bank are set to begin their annual meetings this weekend.