Snip ~ "We are getting closer," Geithner said. "We need to make some progress this week, to give everybody more confidence," geithner saidJune 21, 2011
Europe has ability to avoid debt crisis: Geithner
Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said the European Union has the ability to avoid a worsening crisis and urged EU members to speak with one voice about plans to solve their debt problems.
"The simple rule in crisis management is, you want to have a simple, clear, unified declarative strategy," Geithner said at an event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal.
EU leaders are racing to resolve the Greek sovereign debt crisis and have been pressuring Athens to press ahead with more austerity measures.
European finance ministers have given the country two weeks to approve further spending cuts and tax hikes in exchange for another 12 billion euros in emergency loans to help Greece avoid defaulting on its debt.
Geithner said the United States is actively involved in helping Europe get a plan together and said that European leaders had to find a solution that works for the politics of Europe.
The specter of further austerity measures in Greece has fueled mass protests and demonstrations. Geithner said ambitious fiscal reform plans will take years, not months, and will not work unless there was a broad financial backstop behind them.
When asked if European bond holders should be forced to take a "haircut," or a loss on their investment, Geithner said there was "no easy answer."
NO U.S. DEFAULT CRISIS
Geithner is facing his own set of fiscal problems in the United States as the Obama administration tries to reach a deal with Congress to allow the Treasury to borrow more funds.
Geithner has warned that the United States will begin defaulting on its obligations, whether payments on debt or other bills, if Congress does not raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2.
"We're going to avoid a default crisis, no doubt about that,' Geithner said.
Vice President Joe Biden, Geithner and six leading Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been trying to hash out a deal to cut more than $2 trillion from the budget over the next decade or so.
But lawmakers are deeply divided on how to rein in spending, with Republicans refusing to consider raising taxes. Geithner said it would be irresponsible to rely solely on spending cuts and added a budget plan must include modest revenue increases through tax reform.
The administration and lawmakers only have about six weeks to resolve their differences and broker a deal. The biggest rating agencies have already issued warnings that the United States would not be able to maintain its top credit rating if it started missing debt payments and was unable to resolve budget issues.
"We are getting closer," Geithner said. "We need to make some progress this week, to give everybody more confidence," he said.
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Europe has ability to avoid debt crisis: Geithner
Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said the European Union has the ability to avoid a worsening crisis and urged EU members to speak with one voice about plans to solve their debt problems.
"The simple rule in crisis management is, you want to have a simple, clear, unified declarative strategy," Geithner said at an event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal.
EU leaders are racing to resolve the Greek sovereign debt crisis and have been pressuring Athens to press ahead with more austerity measures.
European finance ministers have given the country two weeks to approve further spending cuts and tax hikes in exchange for another 12 billion euros in emergency loans to help Greece avoid defaulting on its debt.
Geithner said the United States is actively involved in helping Europe get a plan together and said that European leaders had to find a solution that works for the politics of Europe.
The specter of further austerity measures in Greece has fueled mass protests and demonstrations. Geithner said ambitious fiscal reform plans will take years, not months, and will not work unless there was a broad financial backstop behind them.
When asked if European bond holders should be forced to take a "haircut," or a loss on their investment, Geithner said there was "no easy answer."
NO U.S. DEFAULT CRISIS
Geithner is facing his own set of fiscal problems in the United States as the Obama administration tries to reach a deal with Congress to allow the Treasury to borrow more funds.
Geithner has warned that the United States will begin defaulting on its obligations, whether payments on debt or other bills, if Congress does not raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2.
"We're going to avoid a default crisis, no doubt about that,' Geithner said.
Vice President Joe Biden, Geithner and six leading Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been trying to hash out a deal to cut more than $2 trillion from the budget over the next decade or so.
But lawmakers are deeply divided on how to rein in spending, with Republicans refusing to consider raising taxes. Geithner said it would be irresponsible to rely solely on spending cuts and added a budget plan must include modest revenue increases through tax reform.
The administration and lawmakers only have about six weeks to resolve their differences and broker a deal. The biggest rating agencies have already issued warnings that the United States would not be able to maintain its top credit rating if it started missing debt payments and was unable to resolve budget issues.
"We are getting closer," Geithner said. "We need to make some progress this week, to give everybody more confidence," he said.
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