Posted by christina4liberty on 03/25/09

Is it just me, or does Timothy Geithner have a case of foot-in-mouth disease?

It amazes me that he can say something like "deserves some consideration" in response to a comment about replacement currency from the Governor of The People's Bank of China. The Dollar plunged, then with the snap of his fingers he can put a spin on what he said and turn it into something positive and magically the dollar recovered. Interesting how that works. I'm sure Obama was waiting in the wings to slap him on the wrist, or maybe wash his mouth out with soap!

Here is part of the article from The New York Times...

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday said that the dollar would remain the world’s dominant reserve currency for some time to come, clarifying earlier remarks that sent the dollar tumbling.

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday.

“The dollar remains the world’s dominant reserve currency,” Mr. Geithner said after a speech in Midtown Manhattan to the Council on Foreign Relations. “I think that’s likely to continue for a long period of time.”

Mr. Geithner’s comments came in response to a question regarding a proposal by Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, that suggested a possible replacement for the dollar as a global reserve currency. The proposal called on the International Monetary Fund to increase the use of "Special Drawing Rights" — a basket of currencies made up of the euro, yen, pound and dollar that has served as a reserve asset.

The dollar plunged earlier in the morning after Mr. Geithner, in response to another question, said China’s suggestion “deserves some consideration,” though he added that he had not read the proposal.

The dollar rebounded later on Mr. Geithner’s clarification.

Still Mr. Geithner said that the “evolution of the dollar’s role in the system depends really primarily on how effective we are in the United States in getting not just recovery back on track, our financial system repaired, but we get our fiscal position back to the point where people will judge it as sustainable over time.”

You can find the article in it's entirety at the New York Times Online..

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/business/economy/26bailout.html?hp