“We have not relented on our principles,” Mr. [Jean-Claude] Trichet told Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, according to a transcript on the bank’s Web site. “Price stability is our primary mandate and compass.”
And in an interview broadcast on Sunday, the U.S. Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, signaled his confidence that Europe would resolve its debt crisis and that the American economy would withstand its impact. “Europe has the capacity to manage through this,” Mr. Geithner told Bloomberg Television. “And I think they will.”
As investors absorb the details ”” and the potential weaknesses ”” of the $1 trillion European rescue plan, Mr. Geithner seemed to be trying to draw a sharp, if implicit, contrast to remarks last week from another senior economic adviser to President Barack Obama, Paul A. Volcker. Mr. Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, startled some investors when he spoke of a possible “disintegration” of the euro zone ”” a striking shift from his expressions of confidence of only two months earlier.
Maybe European politicians actually READ stuff they vote on! We’ll see if they can navigate this minefield.
Oh, well, what the heck, let’s run up some more debt. And let’s not hear anymore that Bush’s debt was bad. If a little debt was good a lot must be ever better. Let’s spend till the cows come home. I’ll send the Govt. my wish list tomorrow.
“Don’t worry. We have just stopped to pick up a little extra ice for the bar in the First Class lounge.”
-Captain of the Titanic