Timothy F Geithner

The Obama administration will unveil within the next couple of weeks details of its plan for dealing with the toxic assets that lie at the heart of the financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Tuesday. He predicted the plan, calling for federal financing to help private investors buy the bad assets held by banks, would succeed, but he said it would take time to end the crisis.

Long before the politically connected California solar firm Solyndra went bankrupt, President Obama was warned by his top economic advisors about the financial and political risks of the Energy Department loan guarantee program that boosted the company's rapid ascent. At a White House meeting in late October, Lawrence H. Summers, then director of the National Economic Council, and Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, expressed concerns that the selection process for federal loan guarantees wasn't rigorous enough and raised the risk that funds could be going to the wrong companies, including ones that didn't need the help.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Friday that the contraction in the global economy might have eased and some financial markets were showing signs of improvement. "Without underestimating the challenges we see, there are signs that the pace of deterioration in economic activity and trade flows has eased," Geithner said after a meeting of Group of 7 finance ministers and central bankers in Washington.

Even if the White House and congressional leaders reach a deal to raise the debt limit, they face at least two hurdles to persuading rank-and-file Republicans to go along. Some cling to a disturbing belief that the Treasury Department doesn't need to borrow more money to keep America's creditors happy. And many more insist that the deal must include a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. The former notion is irrational. And the latter is bad policy, even if it reflects a legitimate concern about the financial burden on future generations.

Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy F. Geithner on Thursday accused China of "manipulating" its currency, raising the risk of a new U.S.-China trade row. Geithner's comments helped spark a jump in Treasury bond yields, on fears that a trade dispute could dim China's appetite for Treasury debt -- at a time when U.S. financing needs are skyrocketing as the Obama administration ramps up spending to bail out the economy.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy F. Geithner won confirmation Monday as President Obama's Treasury secretary despite personal tax lapses that turned more than a third of the Senate against him. "Tim's work and the work of the entire Treasury Department must begin at once. We cannot lose a day because every day the economic picture is darkening, here and across the globe," Obama told supporters before Geithner was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden.

On the eve of a congressional vote on credit card reforms, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner urged lawmakers Wednesday to "change the rules of the game." He said that "deceptively complex" credit card rules "hurt responsible borrowers and threaten to turn lives upside down." President Obama has criticized companies for jacking up interest rates and levying unexpected fees on customers.

When President-elect Barack Obama picked Timothy F. Geithner to be his Treasury secretary four months ago, numerous analysts praised the choice because of Geithner's expertise in the financial industry. He was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the time, and had helped craft the response to the troubles roiling global credit markets.

The numerous errors on Timothy F. Geithner's income tax returns had tax accountants debating Wednesday whether the missteps were innocent, cheating or simply the result of the overly complicated tax code. Geithner's political fate -- he is President-elect Barack Obama's choice as Treasury secretary, putting him in charge of the IRS -- lies in balance. But it's not an easy call. Tax experts said that the issues that tripped up Geithner were complex enough to befuddle many taxpayers.

President-elect Barack Obama on Friday selected the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as his nominee for Treasury secretary, choosing a vigorous advocate of government intervention in the troubled economy who nonetheless commands wide respect among conservatives. Timothy F. Geithner, 47, has been a central player in the Bush administration's response to the economic crisis, and his selection indicated the incoming administration's desire to hit the ground running.

The federal government will start using "extraordinary measures" this week to juggle its finances to avoid hitting the nation's debt limit this month, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told congressional leaders. The $14.3-trillion debt ceiling is on track to be reached May 16. And because Congress apparently won't act before then, the Treasury will take steps to avoid defaulting on its payments, Geithner said Monday. But those steps would hold off a potential government default only until about Aug. 2, Geithner said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Thursday that the economy was in the midst of a recovery that could be imperiled if the government's support systems were removed too quickly. "A classic pattern in past financial crises is governments tend to put on the brakes too soon, withdraw support too early, and that's been a very costly mistake and we're going to be very careful to avoid that mistake," Geithner said at a conference sponsored by the Economist magazine. A robust recovery depends on businesses investing more in the economy, Geithner said, and it is the government's responsibility to give them the tools to do that.

The Obama administration significantly downsized its program to buy toxic mortgage-backed securities while naming nine private investment companies to purchase the assets with the help of government money. The announcement formally launched a long-awaited initiative to help clean the balance sheets of financial institutions, allowing them to expand credit and help the economy to recover.

When Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner arrives Sunday in Beijing, he will have to begin assuring the Chinese that their vast holdings in federal bonds are safe and that the Obama administration is doing everything it can to preserve the value of the American dollar.

On the eve of a congressional vote on credit card reforms, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner urged lawmakers Wednesday to "change the rules of the game." He said that "deceptively complex" credit card rules "hurt responsible borrowers and threaten to turn lives upside down." President Obama has criticized companies for jacking up interest rates and levying unexpected fees on customers.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Friday that the contraction in the global economy might have eased and some financial markets were showing signs of improvement. "Without underestimating the challenges we see, there are signs that the pace of deterioration in economic activity and trade flows has eased," Geithner said after a meeting of Group of 7 finance ministers and central bankers in Washington.

Though he was a prodigy in the world of economics, Timothy F. Geithner underwent an IRS audit in 2006 and ended up paying back taxes for a mistake in two years' worth of filings. That was embarrassing enough. But just as he was about to be named to head the Treasury Department, a more awkward fact came to light: Geithner had made the same error in two earlier tax years and failed to fix it even after the audit.

The first time Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was sent out as point man to sell the Obama administration's financial rescue plan, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 382 points. And Geithner's subsequent efforts as a center-stage spokesman were less than resounding successes. On Monday, the administration took a different approach.

The Obama administration is gearing up for an aggressive new push to regulate large financial corporations -- including insurance companies, hedge funds and private-equity firms -- that would wreak havoc on the nation's economy should they fail. The move, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, aims to reverse decades of deregulation that has allowed financial companies especially to operate without any significant federal oversight.

In these uncertain times, you take your certitude where you find it. Platoons of academic economists and business commentators spent all weekend griping about the emerging details of the Obama administration's latest attempt to mount a bank bailout. Then Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner unveiled the plan in detail Monday morning, and the stock market delivered a decisive thumbs-up, with the Dow Jones index rocketing nearly 500 points higher.