Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Tim Geithner calls on Europe to go beyond recapitalizing banks

A Bloomberg article reports that Tim Geithner is calling on Europe to go beyond recapitalizing its banks to addressing its sovereign debt crisis.

There are two interesting observations to make about what he said.

First, in America, the Dodd-Frank Act supposedly did away with bank recapitalizations or, as they are more commonly refer to, bailouts.  Why would Mr. Geithner recommend bailing out the European banks?

Second, isn't the classic way to handle a situation where countries or any other borrower cannot repay their debts to restructure the debts?  Is Mr. Geithner suggesting that the sovereign debt crisis should be handled with a "bailout" too?

Does the exposure of US banks have anything to do with his advice?
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said European leaders must go beyond a planned recapitalization of banks to resolve the continent’s sovereign- debt crisis. 
“The most important problem is they have to make sure that the major economies of Europe that are under pressure now are able to borrow at affordable rates,” Geithner said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “They recognize the need to do more than they’ve done so far.” 
... “They are moving but they have some ways to go,” Geithner said. “You saw the president of France, the president of Germany make some very promising, very encouraging statements,” he said. “The Europeans recognize they need to put in place a much more substantial, much more powerful response if they are going to achieve their objectives, which is helping countries reform by making sure they have enough oxygen that they can get through this.”

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