Word: geithner
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...Capitol Hill on Thursday, Tim Geithner sent a little thrill up the leg of all the American trade unions that worked so hard to get Barack Obama elected. The Treasury Secretary-designate - whose appointment, despite his embarrassing tax travails, was waved through to the full Senate yesterday by the Finance Committee - declared in a written statement to the committee that China was guilty of "manipulating" its currency for trade advantage...
...Geithner's rhetoric before the Senate raises the question: Is the less confrontational approach now history? The short answer: in tone, perhaps. But in substance, not a whole lot is likely to change. The young Treasury Secretary-designate knew the "manipulator" line would get a lot of attention, as it has. So the tone is already different. Further, though Beijing may not know this yet (and will be mortified to learn), some senior economic officials in the new Administration have made it plain that they have little use for SEDs. Some view them as pointless, time-consuming gabfests that accomplished...
Read "Can Tim Geithner Lead the Economy Out of Its Mess...
...Geithner, despite the rhetoric before the Senate, understands this better than most. He spent much of his career in the 1990s at the Treasury Department working on international issues, with particular emphasis on Asia. He understands how complex the bilateral economic relationship with China is and will probably be inclined to resist pressure to formally cite Beijing as a bad actor on currency. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...Perhaps it's true that if sufficiently angered by U.S. trade policy, China would feel compelled to inflict economic pain on itself by dumping U.S. debt, in order to send a message to Washington. But Geithner, despite his brief rhetorical flourish about manipulation, knows what his job is when it comes to persuading foreigners (whether governments or individuals) to continue to invest in Treasuries. Sources close to the Administration say that thus far he has argued privately that "what the world wants to know, first, is that we are going to fix this [economic and financial] problem and make people...