Tim Geithner Warns: The US Is At Risk Of A 1930s Repeat

Joe Weisenthal

Business Insider
Sept 13, 2010

If the government become paralyzed — as is arguably the case already, and is clearly a serious risk should the GOP take over — the US risks a 1930s-like scenario. At least according to Tim Geithner.

That’s the standout quote from an interview in the WSJ:

[The] typical error most countries make coming out of a financial crisis is they shift too quickly to premature restraint. You saw that in the United States in the 30s, you saw that in Japan in the 90s. It is very important for us to avoid that mistake. If the government does nothing going forward, then the impact of policy in Washington will shift from supporting economic growth to hurting economic growth.

As for the deficits question:

“We don’t have unlimited resources,” Mr. Geithner said. “We just don’t think it would be responsible for this country, given the size of our future deficits, and given the substantial burden the middle class has been bearing over the past decade in particular, to go out and borrow $700 billion from our children so we can sustain those Bush tax cuts that only go to the wealthiest 2% of Americans.”

Read the entire article

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