Geithner 'open' to China proposal on global currency

It's all in your mind, go back to sleep.

It's a coincidence that 99% of Congress and the Executive Branch are members of the Council on Foreign Relations (a think tank of the ruling elite with massive influence on the US Govt.).

Obama loves us, George Bush hates us, and the government would never allow a financial crisis to happen in order to bring in a new global currency.

 

How soon before we're all tatooed with barcodes and have homing beacons implanted? Is there a black helicopter over my house? Save me Red Chocolate!!!

 

News outlets keep telling me Timmy is brilliant and is the only one who can solve the current economic problems. I dunno. My confidence in Geithner started low and is plummeting.

 

Not sure this is worth a new thread, so I'll insert it here....

The Ballad of Timothy Geitner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAdJLLmpWBU

 

I'm not scared. Blue helmets make for excellent target practice.

 

Yes, not outright rejecting the comments of the top finance minister in China is a horrible thing!

Nevermind that he also said he doesn't see it happening and expects the dollar to remain the global currency reserve.

The overreaction here to every statement by anyone in the administration is getting to be laughable.

 

Didn't the dollar drop, right after his comments came out?

 

Yeah - and then it rebounded all the way back once people realized it was irrelevant and got the full context.

The difference is that the market move was an immediate reaction with limited information. The reaction here was well after we learned the full context of the comments.

 

Ok, didn't know that, sorry.

People are always nitpicky on both sides and overreact to any comments from public officials.

 

No worries - I agree that it happens on both sides. There just seems like there's been a rash of it the last few weeks or so, and it's annoyed me.

 

I'd say it's been happening for about 65 days.

 

Geithner is certainly working hard at proving he was a mistake by President Obama.

 

How? What exactly did he say here that was wrong?

 

You really can't see what he did wrong?

 

No. Someone reported a small, out-of-context quote that led to a market reaction for all of about 20 minutes. Then the full quote came out, and everything went back to normal and it became a non-story. What exactly did he do wrong?

If we want more transparency and openness in government, then you have to accept that people are going to say things that can be taken the wrong way if taken out of context. The alternative is for government to do everything in secret and not ever comment about anything - that's the worst option.

 

Who says we shouldn't be "open and transparent?" Geithner is our "Finance Minister." Everything he says about the subject is going to be micro-analyzed. In my opinion, he should never have commented on the "China proposal" like that. I didn't see what was taken out of context, either. The problem I have with his comment isn't that he meant to imply that the world replace the dollar as the "global currency" with something else, as the Chinese official suggested. I don't think he intended to say that. My problem is that he left himself open to being misunderstood on an issue that is of vital importance to the United States. That was a mistake, in my opinion.

I'm not impressed with Geithner. I don't doubt that the man is highly intelligent, but I wish Barack had picked someone else.

 

But he was only misunderstood for about 20 minutes when people only had a piece of the quote. No one misunderstood what he said after they saw the whole context of his quotes, which is why both the dollar and the markets undid their reaction.

You could take any line out of any speech from Obama or any other leader and warp it by taking it out of context. The only way to avoid that is to never say anything.

 

I reread this post (I wish the two threads on this subject were combined, as it's a bit confusing), and it still surprises me that you would say, "But he was only misunderstood for about 20 minutes when people only had a piece of the quote. No one misunderstood what he said after they saw the whole context of his quotes, which is why both the dollar and the markets undid their reaction." That's an amazingly glib statement from you, Major. The reaction to what the man said lasted far longer than 20 minutes. You were glib in the second part, as well. "You could take any line out of any speech from Obama or any other leader and warp it by taking it out of context. The only way to avoid that is to never say anything." Major, one could take anything said by anyone "and warp it by taking it out of context." That ignores my point, which was that we would have been better served had he not made that particular comment at all.

I don't get it. Is the problem for you simply who started the thread? Who cares? Are we all supposed to stand silent if we disagree with something a cabinet member says, or an Administraion official, or Barack himself? Of course not. I think your reaction, however, is overly defensive. Mistakes have been made, and mistakes will be made in the future. It's the nature of the beast. This wasn't a large one by Geithner, but it continues an early trend that I hope he can bring to a halt, which is putting across what I, and others I have talked to, consider a poor impression in the media by the man. He talks way too fast. He doesn't come across as measured and inspiring of confidence. In my opinion, he would have been a better choice for a less visible role in the administration, more similar to that of Lawrence Summers.

I'll give you an example of the kind of demeanor I wish we had in the person of the Treasury Secretary... Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman. He's very impressive when testifying to Congress or in any other public role. Even when he is wrong, he inspires confidence, and inspiring confidence is critical for the Treasury Secretary, especially in these trying times.

Just food for thought.