the sitting title for his address today is international financial stability and the i.m.f.'ou, and let us welcome the managing director. [applause] >> well, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to be with you this morning and having this opportunity to address this audience just after my friend pascal and bob zellic and it's also good occasion, i don't have the opportunity to meet my old friend. the bretton company committee has been a great friend over the years and you have provided very useful ideas, original ideas which have been tremendously helpful for moving forward and changing the institution. today as we emerge from the crisis which could have been, remember one year ago, more than one year ago could have been as big as the great depression as we were to shape the pascals of this world, i think it's timely to meet and think it's timely to meet and discuss the future the world is at a turning point. much of what we have worked for, more prosperity, a safer world. i like to explore with you a renewed vision of the fed, a vision that response to the challenges membe

you're not thrilled by the world bank or the i.m.f.. >> well, the i.m.f. changed a little bit. >> rose: oh, so they're more better to your liking >>? >> they've reformed to a considerable degree. >> rose: meaning they're not creating such tough standards to receive their money? >> that's right. or to put it the way i would put it... >> rose: (laughs) which is a better way. >> in the east asia crisis they demand what we call pro-cyclical policies that converted down turns into recessions, recessions into depressions. if you look at their programs more recently, most of them have been much less than that way, some of them have actually been very, very helpful. so i think that's part of the change of... in the global debate and that's why many people in greece say if europe doesn't come to itself, the i.m.f. is not necessarily that bad of an alternative. >> rose: you're not thrilled by the dollar remaining the reserve currency of the world. >> no. >> rose: that puts you and the president of france in the same boat. >> a dollar-based reserve system is not work

but what happens with the i.m.f., if somebody goes to the i.m.f., they say, okay, in order you don'tave speculation we're going to put money on table. it's like putting a gun on the table saying i may not use it but it's there as a threat. and making sure that there won't be speculation against greece. now greece is not... greece is in the euro zone so we're not asking to go to the imf, although we would have to if the euro zone wasn't there to help us. that's what i've been discussing right now. if we do need some special kind of intervention into the markets so that there is no special lags even though we're doing the right thing and that's the point you're asking, therefore we are able to counter this speculative attack on greece. >> woodruff: some are asking what's taken so long? i mean greece has had these endemic problems. you mentioned corruption, people not paying their taxes. a huge load of debt for years and years. you yourself have been in and out of government for what? 20-some years. 25 years. so why should people believe now it's going to be different? your pred predece

and while we believe that the stronger countries of europe will come together along with perhaps the i.m.f, to give greece the band ates they need, there will be other problems that crop up from time to time. and that means we're going to have a sub par recovery. a recovery but slower than usual. >> susie: what would that mean for the markets? >> that means the markets are probably going to be two steps forward, one step back. not the kind of straight-up pattern we saw in the back part of last year. it's going to take companies delivering the goods meaning that earnings have to come through, susie. >> susie: let's go down the rest of your list. you mentioned interest rates. what the fed will do about that. to what extent do you... do higher interest rates pose a risk for the stocks going up? >> well, first of all interest rates, meaning longer-dated treasury securities, actually moved up during 2009 as fear began to recede and confidence started returning. we'll get more of that this year in our view. interest rates moving up, if it's just a bit, the economy, the markets can handle that. t

forgiving haiti's debts to the world bank, i.m.f., and iadd is a good policy is the right thing to do. but forgiving the debts alone will not deliver tents to provide shelter from the impeding rainy system. debt relief alone won't rebuild hospitals, roads, and schools they hey tee needs to get back two. debt relief alone won't develop the human capital the country needs so desperately. from the state department to the other departments, we must not lose sight of the longer term needs of this country its government and its people. indeed, we are now moving to the second and third phase of a long and arduous process, mainly moving from immediate rescue to reconstruction and ultimately long-term economic recovery. doing this will require leadership by the haitian people and government as they take ownership for their future. it will also require effective coordination of our aid and development efforts to eliminate waste, duplication and ultimately loss of good will. as we do all this and its implementation as planned, special attention needs to be paid to the need to rebuild haiti's hum

that in four years' time we will have a deficit almost as big as when dennis healey when went to the i.m.f. in the 1970's. we are not the only ones who think this is completely inadequate. the c.b.i. has said current plans to half the deficit over four years are too little too late. the oecd has said more am business bishes fiscal plans would strengthen the recovery, strengthen the recovery, and the european commission says the government's plans are not sufficiently ambitious. and the prime minister, the prime minister used to bang on about how we needed a global early warning system. do we all remember that one? how many more warnings does he need? the lights are flashing, the alarm bells are ringing but he's ignoring them and doing nothing for this country. the credible plan also requires action now. and all we got was delay. the risk to recovery is not in dealing with the deficit now, it's in not dealing with the deficit now. the prime minister probably discussing what kind of charging fees they can give off the next election. they should lisp. every family knows that when your debts m

the thing like in the argentina crisis about 10 years ago, the glass of wine in greece was more expensive than in germany. right now i think i.m.f. and the global financial institutions are pushing for the drastic cuts, privatized water, self-capital greek islands, duty reductions with the health care costs and many other things. but who caused the problem? we have to investigate because the thing that happened in portugal, spain and ireland. thank you very much. host: before you respond to that i just want to show our viewer the headline in "the financial times" about portugal. go ahead. guest: yeah. i think there is a role to be looked at. what role did the investor banks play in advising these governments. i would hope that's being looked at because if a bank -- and this goes back to the goldsman transactions with greece -- it made it more in debt than it really was, that is obviously wrong. and that should be, you know, probed to see what was happening there, of course. now, i can kind of agree that there is definitely, you know, a need to look at the banking -- the bank's role in this. but, again, greece put itself in the s

the u.s. aid. what about i.m.f. raid to -- aid to greece. >> i'll get a readout of what their discussions have been. i don't know if this is going to come out or not. >> on a related point, the european commission president wants the g-20 to curb derivatives. chancellor her tell said she wants to go -- chancellor america el said she wants to go beyond -- chancellor merkel said she wants to go beyond that and crack down. will the president be willing to go beyond the agreements he's already inherited? >> i'm not schauer the president has had an opportunity to look at what the chancellor has proposed or has in mind. again, i know they discussed, as you mentioned, discussed these topics in pittsburgh only a few months ago and we believe that the underpinnings of financial reform are setting about a new series of rules on how our economy can and should operate in order to prevent the type of collapse that we saw in september of 2008. i have not seen the specific recommendations. >> are they looking into this or anything?

the crisis. european union officialsen oppoe an i.m.f. bailout. se are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. =0z>> our congressional cover ty includes a hearing looking at the national security budget for fiscal year 2011. that is live at 9:00 a.m. eastern on cspan 3. yesterday, defense secretary ñ wantse pentagon review of the ban on openly gay militaryop[ service members wrapped up by december 1 of this year. the military personnel subcommittee in the house looks at the issue today. that is live at 2:30 p.m. eastern on cspan 3. the house today pays tribute to the late congressman john murtha who died last month. a memorial service from the capital, we will have live c-span. >> "washington post" international correspondents tr reid has traveled the world. join our three-hour conversation with him and your phone calls live sunday at noon eastern. that is on c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: thank you for being with us. we are looking at the proposed budget this week. you were kind enough to talk to usjby-bú about the fcccéa

the summit, german chancellor angela merkel insisted a bailout should only be used if greece could not borrow money from financial markets. >> ( translated ): i propose that we consider a combination of i.m.f. help and bilateral aid as a last resort, if there is a situation in which greece can't obtain money itself. for me, it's important that this focuses on that last resort, after that we should consider what we have learnt from this situation, because really, we didn't want to even be in such a situation. >> sreenivasan: the support package is likely to be worth between $27 billion and $29 billion. on wall street today, stocks changed very little. the dow jones industrial average gained five points to close at 10,841. the nasdaq fell more than a point to close at 2,397. those are some of the day's main stories. i'll be back at the end of the program with a preview of what you'll find tonight on the "newshour's" web site. but for now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we go to the continuing crisis in home foreclosures. the government's record on helping those most in need came in for new criticism at a congressional hearing today. judy woodruff has our report. >> reporter: lawmakers got right