Timothy Geithner

By Abid Ali in Business on October 19th, 2010
Photo from AFP

There’s a race going on right now. A "war" if you take the words of Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, to devalue currency. The reason is simple: by keeping your currency low against your competitor you will export more.

Timothy Geithner, the US treasury secretary, says his country  is not involved in currency manipulation. On the other hand, the US accuses China of being a currency manipulator and has delayed publishing a report to this effect.

"It is not going to happen in this country." Geithner said.

It is very important for people to understand that the United States of America and no country around the world can devalue its way to prosperity, to (be) competitive.

By Samah El-Shahat in Business on October 25th, 2009
Photo by AFP

I am in crisis. My back is out of whack. I have lower back pain that would test the mental and physical endurance of a long distance runner and a nun combined.

My physiotherapist has urged me to "find balance in my life". I need to realign my back, strengthen my “core” muscles, and listen to my body. Finding inner harmony - spiritual, physical and psychological – she says - is the only way of resolving the crisis that is my back.

What I suffer from, in economics speak, is “structural”. It requires change that is deep rooted if I am ever going to realign and rebalance my back to get on with my life. And this got me thinking, about “rebalancing”. It seems to be the “it” word of the post-crisis world.

By Teymoor Nabili in Business on May 29th, 2009

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is due in China this weekend.  Certainly there are plenty of topics, and differences, to keep him, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao occupied for a while. But on top of the issues of currency, trade barriers and Treasury purchases, the Wall Street Journal says Geithner also plans to tell Beijing it needs to take ”drastic measures” to reform it’s economy.

“That means encouraging Beijing to offer more generous health care, retirement, welfare,  educational and other benefits …”

I’m sure the prescription will provoke a wry smile or two in Beijing, and maybe even a polite enquiry along the lines of  “and do you plan to introduce these benefits at home, Mr Geithner?”

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