e*n
发帖数: 1511 | 1 Geithner Says U.S. Employers `Very Cautious,' Job Growth Not Fast Enough
By Ian Katz - Jul 25, 2010
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said U.S. companies scarred by the
financial crisis remain “very cautious” and are trying to get more
productivity from current employees before hiring new ones.
Job growth is “not as fast as we need,” Geithner said in an interview
broadcast today on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Employers “are still
cautious, still very cautious,” he said. “So they’ve been trying to get
as much productivity out of their employees as possible.”
Geithner also said, in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week” program,
that allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to lapse at the end of
this year wouldn’t hurt economic growth.
The U.S. economy lost 125,000 jobs in June while adding 83,000 private-
sector positions, fewer than forecast. While the unemployment rate fell to 9
.5 percent from 9.7 percent, it has exceeded 9 percent since May 2009.
On NBC, Geithner said he doesn’t think the U.S. will suffer a so-called
double-dip recession. “The most likely thing is you see an economy that
gradually strengthens over the next year or two,” he said.
Companies announcing job reductions in July include New Brunswick, New
Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson. The health- products company, under U.S.
congressional investigation for a recall of children’s medicines, said it
will reorganize the plant where the withdrawn drugs were made and cut 300
positions.
Geithner said he thinks the government should keep a role in housing finance
companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while studying how much U.S. policy
should encourage homeownership.
‘Carefully Designed Guarantee’
“We’re not going to preserve Fannie and Freddie in anything like the
current form,” he said. “But I think there’s going to be a good case for
taking a look at preserving or putting in place a carefully designed
guarantee, so again, homeowners have the ability to borrow, to finance a
home, even in a very difficult recession.”
The administration will look at the “the broad set of policies” the U.S.
government has put in place “to help encourage homeownership and
particularly help low-income Americans get access to affordable housing,”
he said.
Falling home prices, together with easy availability of credit and
government policies promoting homeownership, pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac to the brink of collapse in 2008. The Treasury seized them in September
of that year and has spent $145 billion so far to keep them solvent. In
April, government agencies asked for public comment on how to fix the system.
‘Responsible Thing’
Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 during former President George W. Bush’s
administration are scheduled to expire at the end of this year, and an
election-year fight looms over whether to continue them. President Barack
Obama and congressional Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for families
earning up to $250,000 a year while allowing those for wealthier taxpayers
to expire.
“We think that’s the responsible thing to do because we need to make sure
we can show the world that they’re willing as a country now to start to
make some progress bringing down our long-term deficits,” Geithner said on
ABC.
Republicans aim to continue the tax cuts for high-income people as well,
contending that taxes shouldn’t be raised during the economic recovery.
They say the economic harm of ending any of the Bush tax cuts would outweigh
deficit concerns.
Geithner, 48, said he didn’t have concerns about the candidacy of Elizabeth
Warren to lead the new consumer- protection agency created by the financial
-regulatory overhaul Obama signed into law July 21.
Warren, who heads the congressional panel overseeing the Treasury’s bailout
program, “has huge credibility and she played a decisive role in helping
make the public case for reform,” Geithner said on the ABC program. “She
was early on this, way ahead of everybody else.”
Geithner said July 22 he had not yet made a recommendation to Obama on who
should head the agency. | K********g
发帖数: 9389 | 2 明天要跌？
still
program,
【在 e*n 的大作中提到】
: Geithner Says U.S. Employers `Very Cautious,' Job Growth Not Fast Enough
: By Ian Katz - Jul 25, 2010
: Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said U.S. companies scarred by the
: financial crisis remain “very cautious” and are trying to get more
: productivity from current employees before hiring new ones.
: Job growth is “not as fast as we need,” Geithner said in an interview
: broadcast today on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Employers “are still
: cautious, still very cautious,” he said. “So they’ve been trying to get
: as much productivity out of their employees as possible.”
: Geithner also said, in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week” program,
| t********s
发帖数: 4503 | |
|
