|
本帖最后由 oldpigwang 于 2011-9-14 18:42 编辑
金砖四国拯救欧洲,Tim Geithner anounce this morning:
Europe Isn’t the New Lehman Brothers.
September 14, 2011, 9:01 AM ET
While Europe faces grave financial danger, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said European leaders can and will work to avoid catastrophe.
“There is no chance that the major countries of Europe will let their institutions be at risk in the eyes of the market,” Geithner said at the “Delivering Alpha” conference today in New York. He cited remarks from German Chancellor Angela Merkel as evidence that European leaders are working to avoid a Lehman-like scenario.
“If you think about the basic lessons of the financial crisis, it takes a number of things to solve it definitively,” Geithner said. He said that leaders need to be committed to a solution and use “overwhelming force.”
“The U.S. was behind the curve early, too,” Geithner said, but praised leaders for putting politics aside to swiftly resolve the crisis. “But we’re still living with scars of that crisis.”
Geithner addressed over 100 investors in a Q&A with Jim Cramer of CNBC. The rumor is that Geithner arrived this morning from a coach-class flight, and pre-gamed his Q&A session by downing a protein shake, according to people familiar with the matter.
Later in the interview, Cramer asked if policy makers aren’t honest because they are fearful of getting fired. Geithner quipped: “I’ve been hoping…” The crowd roared with laughter. (We assumed Geithner was joking.) He added: “I’ve spent my life in public service and I had never been in a position where I had to say something I didn’t believe.”
In his keynote address, Geithner also said U.S. growth was “weaker than we hoped” and challenges remain. The trauma in Europe, ongoing fiscal drag, Japan and “political dysfunction” has been “devastating to confidence in the U.S,” he said.
Geithner heads to Europe later this week. “They invited to me come and I thought it would be polite to accept that,” he said of his trip. “What they’re doing is very challenging…They have a terrible growth problem.”
Geithner said, however, Europe has the financial capacity to get its house in order. “I think they recognize how severe the constraint, the challenges are.”
Money-market funds came up as a concern for their European exposures. “It’s important to think about this as overwhelmingly a European challenge.” It does matter to U.S. investors, Geithner said. But the financial system in the U.S. is in a “much, much stronger position” to handle any shock.
“We have a big interest in helping them through this. But this is their challenge,” Geithner said.
Turning to President Obama’s newly unveiled jobs plan, Geithner said the proposal is “absolutely not” dead…People will have different views about what’s good for growth.” He said he would be open to hearing from people about better plans. Geithner also suggested that “modest” changes to the current tax code would be necessary. “We think there’s a lot of tough things we have to do.”
|
|