Free Republic

Trying to stay upbeat? Avoid the business section. Unemployment stands at 9.1 percent. Growth is narcoleptic. The housing market hasn’t hit bottom. Fears of a Greek default are roiling markets. The deficit is running more than a trillion dollars for the third year in a row and won’t be shrinking anytime soon. A U.S. fiscal crisis may be only a few years (or months) away. President Obama, meanwhile, seems to think our problems would be solved if only we banned ATMs and built solar-powered bullet trains. His “propellerheads”—Geithner, Bernanke, Sperling, et al.—are spinning to the ground. Alert the authorities: Stop...

Harold Camping was a regular feature on the news in the weeks leading up to the not-quite-so end of the world, soundly ridiculed by nearly everyone who took the time to comment on his predictions. His predictions however, were no more wrong than the dire predictions of economic doom that were supposed to occur if Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling. Just as the world didn’t come to an end on May 21st, neither did the world economy collapse on May 16th. Nearly a month after the dreaded debt ceiling was reached, the world is still spinning, the sun...

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did little to convince freshman GOP lawmakers of the newfound urgency of raising the debt ceiling on Thursday. House freshman lawmakers who attended the late day bicameral closed-door meeting said that Geithner’s refusal to present a “scorable” plan that would reduce the deficit in exchange for a must-pass debt limit increase, left many feeling frustrated. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), who sat through most of the hour-long meeting, told The Hill that Geithner said “absolutely nothing” to convince him of the urgent need to increase the current $14.3 trillion limit by the August 2 deadline. If Congress...

What was Timothy Geithner thinking back in 2008 when, as president of the New York Fed, he decided to give Goldman Sachs a $30 billion interest-free loan as part of an $80 billion secret float to favored banks? The sordid details of that program were finally made public this week in response to a court order for a Freedom of Information Act release, thanks to a Bloomberg News lawsuit. Sorry, my bad: It wasn’t an interest-free loan; make that .01 percent that Goldman paid to borrow taxpayer money when ordinary folks who missed a few credit card payments in order...

SEABROOK, N.H. — Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R) teed off on Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Thursday night, saying she does not believe his “false statements” that a “catastrophe would befall” the country if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by August. On her first day in New Hampshire, Palin held an impromptu news conference as she was leaving a clambake here. She encouraged congressional Republicans to hold firm in the debt-ceiling negotiations, and she said the cost of the war in Afghanistan and the posture of the Afghan government should prompt consideration of a drawdown of...

On June 1, 2009, General Motors filed for bankruptcy, backed by $30 billion in support from the federal government. The same day, in the same New York courthouse, a judge approved Chrysler’s plan to forge an alliance with Fiat and emerge from bankruptcy as a restructured business with an uncertain future. Two years later, all three American automakers have returned to profitability, the industry has added new shifts and 115,000 jobs, and GM and Chrysler have returned more than 50 percent of the government’s investment. The industry is mounting one of the most improbable turnarounds in recent history.

The Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are about to give Democrats, President Barack Obama included, a clean vote on whether or not to raise the federal debt ceiling. For months now, Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and congressional Democratic leaders have been demanding an increase in the debt ceiling without having to accept any preconditions like real reforms in the budget process or real limits on future federal spending. For their sins, they are getting exactly what they wanted. What they do with it is another question entirely. It is highly doubtful that the Democrats ever thought the...

Two top Republicans said Sunday they oppose raising the nation's debt ceiling without major moves to slash the federal deficit, a stance that suggests the GOP may be heading toward a high-stakes showdown with Democrats as the deadline for congressional action nears. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he is prepared to keep the ceiling in place "unless we do something really significant about debt and deficit.'' Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican candidate for president, also challenged the Obama administration's contention that failure to lift the debt limit would trigger an...

This is your "what the hell?" video of the morning. Treasury Secretary Geithner is asked if he knew about the "predatory atmosphere" at the IMF. He says "this is a hard question to ask a man." Except, it's not a hard question, for a man or for anyone. "Were you aware of the culture of rape at IMF" has two possible answers: "yes, I noticed" or "no, I just didn't see it." But, of course, he can't say either because if he saw abuse then the follow-up question is going to be why he didn't do anything about it. And...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced May 16 that the U.S. government has reached its legal debt limit, and that he had to dip into federal pensions to meet the country’s obligations. And if Republicans stick to their demands for major spending cuts, Geithner is going to have to start getting even more creative. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. When Democrats decided to pass on raising the nation’s $14.29 trillion debt limit during the 111th Congress’ lame duck session this December, the game plan for the 112th Congress was simple: scare “responsible” Republicans into voting to raise the debt...

Newsmax Watch Out! Feds Could Seize Your Private Retirement Savings Saturday, May 21, 2011 04:58 PM By: Greg Brown How long before Uncle Sam hits private pensions to balance the public budget? It’s quickly becoming a reasonable question to ask. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is ringing alarm bells across Washington, D.C., warning of a disastrous outcome if an agreement to raise the debt ceiling is not made soon. “A default would call into question, for the first time, the full faith and credit of the U.S. Pensions, Federal Government, Debt Ceiling, Retirementgovernment,” Geithner wrote in a letter Friday to Sen....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that if Republicans insist on passage of their budget plan as a condition for approving an increase in the nation's borrowing limit, they will be responsible for the consequences. Speaking to a New York audience, Geithner said that Republicans would bear responsibility for the first debt default in the nation's history if they insist they will not vote for an increase in the $14.3 billion borrowing limit unless they win approval of a House Republican budget plan. "If Republicans try to impose that plan on this country as a condition...

With a failing and ailing housing market that Zillow predicts won't hit bottom until 2012 *at the earliest*…, a US dollar with rapidly declining value driving prices of oil up, as well as every product down line in the transportation chain, this administration's leadership thru the US economic woes have proven not to steer the nation towards recovery, but instead thrown us into a double dip recession. With a new POTUS election year looming, this comes as quite the inconvenient talking point. So it comes as no surprise that Geithner decides to play politics with the crises… laying the...

(Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is facing growing criticism for his changing predictions on when the country might face a debt default, shifts that have led some Republicans to discount his dire warnings that the debt limit must be raised soon. Since January, Geithner has changed his forecast of when the U.S. would hit its borrowing cap, and the final deadline for raising the debt limit, at least four times -- fueling a belief among rank-and-file Republicans that his latest August 2 deadline is artificial and can be ignored.Some Democrats are increasingly worried that the changing calendar has...

The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government loses its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has warned for months that the government would soon hit the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling — a legal limit on how much it can borrow. With the government poised to reach that limit Monday, Geithner is undertaking special measures in an effort to postpone the day when he will no longer have enough funds...

The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government loses its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise over the debt. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has warned for months that the government would soon hit the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling — a legal limit on how much it can borrow. With the government poised to reach that limit Monday, Geithner is undertaking special measures in an effort to postpone the day when he will no longer have enough funds to...

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said he is ready to cut a deal on raising the debt limit if only President Barack Obama would get serious about spending cuts. Obama warned that congressional failure to raise the debt limit could lead to a worse financial crisis than 2008-09 and urged that debate stay separate from spending cuts. Both sides stuck to their well-staked out positions, showing little evidence of movement. Boehner and fellow Republicans warned of dire consequences to the economy if the debt limit is not linked to spending cuts and deficit reduction. "I'm ready to...

The political battle over whether to raise the U.S. debt ceiling continues to rage in the halls of Congress as the country inches closer to hitting its debt limit of $14.294 trillion and the stakes get higher. The Republican leadership has faced increasing pressure from freshman members of Congress -- many of whom campaigned on the platform of cutting the deficit -- and the conservative Tea Party movement, even as they work with the Democratic leadership to avert a default on the debt that some economists warn could tank the U.S. economy. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has given a deadline...

Note this one well folks: "Medicare, the government health plan for seniors, will exhaust its principal trust fund five years sooner than previously thought, which could heighten pressure on the White House and Congress to change the program as part of deficit-reduction negotiations." Wait a second.... didn't we just hear this from Timmy about the need to borrow more money? "If the United States were forced to stop, limit or delay payment on obligations to which the Nation has already committed - such as military salaries, Social Security and Medicare, tax refunds, contractual payments to businesses for goods and services,...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) listens to the closing statement by China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Interior Department in Washington May 10, 2011