I’m not sure what Secretary Tim Geithner is smoking these days, but I’m sure there’s a huge market for it. Maybe we could tax it then pay off the national debt. The news of the Treasury Secretary’s trip to China is just developing enough of a surreal feel that I felt like Photoshopping a Buddhist begging bowl on to Beavis and entitling it Timmy Does China. However, I’m not that skilled at photo shop and I’m still trying to finish this paper on currency regimes so I don’t have the time to be that creatively unpaid. Let’s just label this a big enough reality disconnect to either be drug induced or a product of Hollywood. Well, not exactly Hollywood, but CNBC, is that close? This blurb is from a thread today at Market Watch.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that China has confidence in the U.S. economy, even as official Chinese editorials and news reports berated Washington for selling a “devalued dollar.”
Geithner, who was wrapping up a two-day visit to China, said officials there shared his positive economic outlook for the U.S. and understood the Obama administration’s need to run higher deficits for a temporary period.
“They’ve got a pretty good feel for what we are trying to do and are very supportive,” he said in an interview with CNBC.
I’m still wondering if the folks in charge of protocal and explaining how other cultures work are understaffed at the White House. Not since POTUS gave HRH an ipod with his speeches on it has there been such a misread of cultural differences. Somebody needs to explain to the Treasury Secretary that criticizing your future hosts (who are well known to be hyperconcerned for their national image) for currency manipulation in front of a world wide audience isn’t going to really get them to open up to you. Giethner’s confirmation hearing was labelled by the WSJ to be a China Bash.
Geithner’s visit to Beijing, his first since assuming the helm of the U.S. Treasury, included scheduled meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and the nation’s top commerce, finance and banking officials.
In the CNBC interview, Geithner downplayed his earlier criticism of Beijing, in which he accused the Chinese government of keeping the yuan at an unreasonably low level against the U.S. dollar in order to boost China’s exports.
He did say, however, that China recognizes the need for a more flexible exchange-rate system, saying such a move “will help them … to use monetary policy to address future growth and inflation challenges.”
Geithner’s comments contrasted with the downbeat look at the U.S. economy reported in China’s state-run media.
I’m actually beginning to wonder if Geithner knows exactly what ’state-run media’ implies here. Maybe a refresher from the State Department would have helped him on that too.
