Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tim Geithner: “Economy has stabilized”

May 18, 2009

Tim Geithner’s take on the economy at present. He has a very strange way of speaking. No punctuation. Like’s memorized bullet points that he tries to fit into the questions and as he isn’t challenged on any of them keeps adding more.

Does he inspire confidence? What would happen if someone challenged him on of his bullet points? Do you think he could defend it?

NEWSWEEK’s JON MEACHAM: Do you think the economy has bottomed out?

US TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER: The economy has clearly stabilized.

  • The pace of decline in most measures of economic activity has slowed quite a lot and that’s an important beginning.
  • Some improvement in credit markets
  • Some markets are thawing
  • Easier to issue
  • Easier to borrow
  • Cost of credit coming down
  • Important beginnings
  • Most challenging economic crisis that this country’s seen in generations
  • Took a long time to build up – take time to work through
  • Even as growth turns positive – which will happen – unemployment is going to keep increasing for awhile
  • It’s not going to feel better for a long time for millions of Americans.
  • Need a fresh look at entire financial system
  • It failed to do some critically important things
  • Too fragile
  • Too unstable
  • Didn’t do a good enough job protecting consumers and investors
  • Incredibly archaic segmented complex oversight regime system
  • Did not prevent huge amounts of risks of building up in pockets of the system that caused a lot of damage.

He was head of the NY Fed when he was not paying his own taxes and Madoff was making off with gazillions.

Want to bring down the national debt?

Audit every politician in Washington.

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