CNS:
“We are committed to building a more level playing field internationally, as we move ahead with reforms in the United States,” Geithner told the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta, Georgia Monday. “We don’t want to see another race to the bottom around the world. As we act to contain risk in the U.S., we want to minimize the chances that it simply moves to other markets around the world.”
Geithner said foreign countries should follow the U.S. in passing legislation similar to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. In the wake of the Basel III financial regulations agreement reached by central banks and supervisors last year, he said, foreign countries should work with the U.S. to determine essentially how profitable major financial institutions should be allowed to be, without driving them to do business in countries without high levels of regulation.
“There is a very strong case for requiring the largest firms, those whose failure could cause the greatest damage to the economy, to hold more capital relative to risk, than smaller institutions,” Geithner said.
[…]
Geithner attacked opponents of such reforms, saying that they were contributing to the problem of government regulators being out-classed and out-smarted by the private sector.
“This is not a new challenge, but we face two new risks in addressing it. One is the effort by politicians and groups that oppose financial reform to starve the regulatory agencies of the resources they need to carry out their new responsibilities. The second is to use the confirmation process to block appointments.”
Geithner said that private sector actors should be for, not against, having smart, savvy regulators.
“Those of you here today who are leaders of the major U.S. financial institutions should be champions, not opponents of getting strong capable people to lead and staff the oversight bodies.”
I’m going to let that settle over you, while myself avoiding the kind of very unhelpful rhetorical Visigothery that would almost certainly drive those moderates and independents clamoring for a kind of coalition world body, run by “savvy regulators,” that sets profit margins for financial institutions right back into the lap of Obama and his inflationary, no-growth policies and his jobless “recovery.”
And for that restraint, you’re welcome.
Parasite complains host may swim off to another part of the pond – demands other dwellers in those parts of pond make life equally uncomfortable so that host stays put.
Why is Geithner not in prison where any other tax cheat would be?
Timmuh has been looking hard into a mirror lately and doesn’t like what he sees looking back. Then again he has never struck me as being a self-reflective sort so the problem may lie in another area.
The progressive left has always put political reliability as the first requirement for those to be allowed to rise up in their system. This does not rule out that those reliable persons can never be “smart” in the normal meaning of the word but it does make for a shallow bench. A bench that grows ever shallower as the political requirements demand that one must more and more adjust ones personal view of reality to match an increasingly skewed alternate universe of thought that the leader thinks is “the real.”
Am I reading this wrong, or is he asking the countries that benefited financially from companies fleeing American regulation to basically commit economic suicide by driving them back to the US through over-regulation of their own?
No, B. Moe, that pretty much sums it up.
OT: Ric Locke and his book got an Instalanche!
Oh, and I’m sure there’s an unspoken corollary. As some RIAA jagoff recommended, file-sharing servers in small foreign countries should expect to entertain a few cruise missiles on their servers. If he can get the bigs to go along the rest won’t matter.
How I imagine Obamas hiring process for Treasury Secretary:
Advertise for generic financial cabinet level position.
Main qualifications; must be Jewish(treasury, duh!), Ivy League education, low profile, something in their background that can be used as leverage if needed.
Assemble the most qualified in conference room for group interview.
Ask half the people in the room, as an exercise, to temporarily give all the money on them to the other half.
STIMULUS!!!
Once completed, ask for a show of hands on who thinks there is now more money in the room.
Dismiss those that didn’t raise their hand.
Little Timmy was all that was left.
The only one clever enough to see Obama wants a political tool in treasury, not an economic genius.
Amazing…This drivel from one of the “smartest guys in the room”.
So does he really think that countries enjoying the fiscal boon of US companies fleeing the highest corporate tax rate in the world and one of the most stifling regulatory environments are going to play a game of “Timmuh says”.
FORCE THOSE EEEEEVOLLL RICH GUYS TO PAAAAAAAAAYY!11!1!
Do the socialist mambo, ‘cuz Geitner says.
As long as the wearers of those boots on my throat are smart and savvy, who am I to complain?
Timmy is truly a joke. A bad one, but a joke.
#11
It isn’t nice to make fun of people with mental disabilities.
OK. Make all banks the world over comply with Swiss banking laws.
This works for me. “Tax Cheat” stamps.