senior white house economic adviser, lawrence summers, and treasury secretary, timothy geithner, both declaring that it would be wrong to pass judgment on any tax increase now. today, white house press secretary robert gibbs says summers and geithner were speaking hypothetically. dan lothian reports from the white house. >> reporter: the president's two top money men may have a good grip on all the numbers, but their words may have gone offscript. >> i think they allowed themselves to get into a little bit of a hypothetical back and forth. >> reporter: that's the clarification of comes made by treasury secretary timothy geithner and economic adviser, larry summers, on the sunday morning talk shows. the two seemingly leaving the door open to a middle had-class tax hike in order to pay down the deficit and afford health care reform. >> it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things, rule things out, no matter. what. >> we are going to have to do what it takes. we are going to do what's necessary. were. >> reporter: spokesman robert gibbs again stressed the president's commitment to n

that is backed up by timothy geithner are, speaking on sunday. that is your time line. bill: 23 times last week, one time this week. thank you, stuart. megyn: speaking of taxes, we are getting reports that the $182 billion spent on aig may not have bought us much. audits showed dozens of companies that make up aig in a tough bind. even the taxpayers pushed in multibillion-dollar pay out into the company, several units were officially downgraded, meaning those companies may be reduced to joke status they do not receive some more much-needed funding. aig is trying to sell them to help pay off loans. not looking good. bill: another fox news alert, this one is critical. new numbers from u.s. auto makers. these eagerly anticipated updates will give a glimpse as to how the industry is doing months after billions of dollars of government funding keep them afloat. you will see here possibly the single biggest driver of those new car sales numbers in the cash to klunkers program. guess what? on friday the fund was broke. the house gave the green light for an additional $2 billio

timothy geithner says americans face tough choices ahead in order to reduce the federal deficit, and larry summers, the president's top economic adviser won't rule out a middle-class tax increase down the road. >> no taxes for middle incomes -- >> there's a lot that can happen over time, but the priority right now, so never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what. >> but an economic rover may be further away than the white house hopes says joseph steiglich. >> i think it's too premature to be confident about a recovery and very premature to be confident about a robust recovery by early next year. >>> kate bolduan joins us from the white house. republicans and democrats are at odds about the economy, is there any common ground that they agree upon today? >> reporter: well, following reports that more than a million americans could lose their benefits by the end of the year, administration officials say they're carefully extending those benefits further, working with congress, and today republicans today seemed to signaling their report. so there's one point of agreem

. >>> treasury secretary timothy geithner was at that meeting and says the economy is no longer on the edge of collapse. he expects it to grow by the end of this year and predicts unemployment will slow significantly by this time next year. >> the broad consensus is you're going to see positive growth in the second half of this year and expect that to continue. >> about that 2.5% level? >> not clear yet. but you need growth before you get businesses to start creating jobs again. and that's where we're going to be very focussed on doing. >> reporter: geithner's predictions weren't all rosy. he warned the bailout plan and the economic stimulus bill are expanding the federal budget deficit. he says any economic recovery won't last unless the deficit is renewed in the near future. >>> with back to school around the corner, public health officials are worried about the spread of swine flu. authorities expect the h1n1 virus to spread further and faster once kid return to the classroom. they're encouraging kids to use hand sanitizer. eventually the goal is to vaccinate school-age children, bu

. >>> treasury secretary timothy geithner was at that meeting and he said the economy is no longer on the edge of collapse. he expects it to grow by the end of year and predicts unemployment will slow significantly by this time next year. >> the broad consensus of the private forecasters is you'll see positive growth this year and expect that to continue. >> 2.5% level? >> not clear yet. but you need growth before you get people's businesses to start creating jobs again. and that's what we're going to be focused on doing. >> geithner's predictions weren't all rosie. he warned the bailout plan and the economic stimulus bill are expanding the federal budget deficit to unsustainable levels. he says any economic recovery won't last unless the deficit is reduced in the near future. >>> arizona senator john mccain is also worried about the skyrocketing deficit. he says while he thinks president obama's stimulus had some effect on the economy, it is also put the country trillions of dollars in debt. >> this is a short-term improvement in the economy. and i'll be glad to give him credit for t

credit worthiness, timothy geithner asked for increase to the national debt limit which currently stands at 12.1 trillion. new debt through 2010 is expected to top $3.5 trillion. all eyes on the federal reserve this week as they meet to discuss the nation's economy. the central bank expected to keep a target range for its bank lending rate between 0 and .25%. investors will be holding their breath as they wait for july sales data due to friday. it accounts for two-thirds of the nation's economy. earnings reports for major retailers will further drive home consumer sentiment. heavy hitters walmart, nord tropical, abercrombie and fitch will all report this week. and finally, you know, if you thought one of the corner hot dog stands may be a stress-free alternative to your job, consider the sky high rent for a pretty hot location. one new york city hot dog vendor has been evicted from his spot after he failed to pay half his rent, $643,000. next time you're in new york and you pay $5 for a hot dog, that's what it's going toward. >>> yankees, darn the sox and tiger at the bridgestone. . >>>

listen to how timothy geithner and larry summers respond to questions of whether it is a matter of when, not whether, taxes will increase. >> the very important thing -- and no one will care more about the six -- this than the president of united states is if we want an economy that is going to grow, people have to understand we have to bring the deficits down. >> it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what. shepard: now, to the other message coming out of the white house today. listen to how the white house press secretary responded when asked by an abc news reporter how the president will pay for everything without raising taxes. >> i want to just state again that the president has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle-class families. >> but if economists do not necessarily think that it is possible to do so without raising taxes on the middle class, how is that dealing candidly with the american people? >> again, there are serious things that have to be done. i think you will hear an announcement from the treasury later this afternoon abo

but, you know, whether this is the trial balloon you heard there from timothy geithner or what we alsoo what he has to say. leaving the door open that the middle class could be taxed in order to pay for all of the expensive things this administration is trying to do, including health care. >> a lot that can happen over time, but the priority, right now, never good a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what. >> reporter: so, again, it does appear that -- again, what i was saying, are they throwing up this trial balloon or is there a real fundamental shift in this administration to look for other places to get that revenue? i mean, right now, what the administration's mind has always been is that they would lean the on the wealthiest of americans to pay for health care. is that a shift? we don't know. typically the administration will have the early morning gaggles where you're allowed to go into the press secretary's office and sit down and talk about the news of the day, kind of go over it and hagle over a little bit before you come out for the afternoon briefing. this m

treasury secretary timothy geithner is talking economic recovery and so is the former fed chair. listen. >> i'm pretty sure we've already seen the bottom. in fact, if you look at the weekly production figures in various different industries, it's clear that we've turned perhaps in the middle of last month, the middle of july. >> okay. mark, lots of talk, but do the numbers add up? do they show a recovery? >> you know, don, i'm certainly no economist. but if you are to believe those such as alan greenspan who says we have turned the corner, you know, perhaps they are right. but you know, for the average american, when you talk about growth in the american economy that doesn't necessarily mean jobs. and we all know that jobs are a lagging indicator, so even administration officials today were saying that while things are on the upswing and they're happy about it, you won't see the job numbers improve until next year. >> that's what's really important. you need money in your pocket to feel some sort of recovery. the president has said over and over that the economy was in turmoil be

treasury secretary timothy geithner is talking economic recovery and so is the former fed chair. listen. >> i'm pretty sure we've already seen the bottom. in fact, if you look at the weekly production figures in various different industries, it's clear that we've turned perhaps in the middle of last month, the middle of july. >> okay. mark, lots of talk, but do the numbers add up? do they show a recovery? >> i'm no economist but if you are to believe those such as alan greenspan who says we have turned the corner, you know, perhaps they are right, but, you know, for the average american when you talk about growth of the american economy, that doesn't necessarily mean jobs, and we all know that jobs are a lagging indicator, so even administration officials today were saying that while things are on the upswing and they're happy about it, you won't see the job numbers improve until next year. >> you need money in your pocket to feel some sort of recovery. the president has said over and over again that the economy was in turmoil before he took office, but does that matter? people w

treasury secretary timothy geithner and larry summers were talking about a rebounding economy. are here again." still, "the wall street journal" reports today of a budding housing market among lower and moderately priced homes. add to that what we heard from cnbc in detroit today that the run away success of the cash for clunkers program suggests we may just be beginning to see things turn around. entertainment news, hollywood will be answering the question of whether the kings of comedy kept their crown. they made "funny people." the take wasn't huge but it was enough to beat "harry potter." no small feat. while the film won't be the kind of money maker others were it is proof the guys that made movies about dumb guys learning lessons have grown up a little bit. for my money i'll take "anchorman." >>> coming up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? welcome to the now network. right now five co-workers are working from the road using a mifi, a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wifi connections. two are downloading the final final revised final presentation.

president obama's chief economic adviser, lawrence summers and timothy geithner does think they wouldot dismiss raising taxes on americans to fix the american crisis. >> we're going to do what's necessary to bring growth back on track. we're going to stick with this until americans are more confident in their future, businesses have access to credit. families will put their kids through college. that will be the ultimate test. and the policies that the administration put in place working with the congress were designed to provide very substantial support to make sure we get through this.. >> shares in metro proving it's not all bullish. the summer market in positive territory. it was a grim assessment, daimler, worst retail sales in june. average poll of plus .5%. >> steve, australia and new zealand reportedly buy most of the assets of british bank royal bank of scotland. a reuters source said the transaction would cover six asian markets, excluding china and india, the $775 million would be the largest oversea transaction of anz. a very bullish day for the australian banks today. you

timothy geithner does not rule it out. >> that's going to require some very hard choices. and we're going to have to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens that the average american already faces. >> one of the president's top advisers says the economy is now moving in the right direction. >> the economy is no longer in free fall. outside observers are looking towards growth. people are speculating about when the recession is going to end rather about if it's going to turn into a depression. the priority has to be to go with a plan that's working and implement it as vigorously as possible. >> and the president is getting surprising credit on the economy from a former rival. but also a warning. >> i think that you could say that it is a short-term improvement in the economy. and i'll be glad to give him credit for that, but the question that i think we should be asking, are the long-term consequences of this unprecedented debts and deficits, are they beneficial to the country and i think the answer is no. >>> as you can see, we've been watching all the o

treasury secretary timothy geithner simply stated an order for the economy to grow over the long term the administration is going to have to bring down the mounting deficit. geithner and director larry summers side stepped the questions about the possibility of a tax increase today. >> he recognizes that his first job was to rescue the economy, that what he inherited was an economy with a trillion dollar plus deficit and an economy that was in free-fall and people talking about depression. and he had had to change that. and i think we have, and the statistics we've seen confirm that. >> summers went on to say that funding for a healthcare overhaul will have to come from somewhere, and that it's never a good idea to absolutely rule anything out. >>> well, a mystery from the gulf war comes to andy this weekend. tonight a missing navy pilot has now been found. >> reporter: the only american unaccounted for from the gulf war has been found. the remains of scott speicher were found buried in the iraqi desert. >> to bring scott home, it really does mean something to us. i'm just sorry that

it appears timothy geithner has something else up his sleeve. >> what the country needs to understand what it takes. steve: do what it takes okay that possibly mean taxing the middle class? we'll report, you

timothy geithner said the white house is not ready to rule out a tax hike. the automakers are expected to offer another sign the economy is headed in the right direction when the report july sales numbers. ford will announ fce a monthly increase, helped in part by the cash for clunkers rebate program. pruett -- july is expected be the strongest month of the year. the fate of cash for clunkers can be decided as early as today. they may add another $2 billion to the program. the senate must give it the green light or the administration says it will have to be suspended. nissan will unveil the first practical, affordable electric r. it goes about 100 miles on a single charge and is expected to cost the same about as a gas- powered car. at the movies, "funny people" was number 1. it took in more than $23 million. "harry potter and the half-blood prince" finished the weekend in second, followed by "g-force." coming up on "good morning america," the truth about lobbying. how you can tell when someone is lying to you. and that is your "money scope" report. i am vin

timothy geithner and larry summers sidestepped questions about the possibility. >> think what the country needs to do is we have to do what it takes. >> the priority right now and it is never a good idea to rule things out. >> alan greenspan tells abc he is pretty sure the recession has hit bottom. he is concerned about the huge government deficit and that home prices may now have stabilized enough. >>> 5:38. still ahead, we are on your side helping to save some cash with your back-to-school shopping. >> temperatures already in the 70's in town. what can we expect for the remainder of the week? my forecast in just a few minutes. >> lisa baden will be back with another look at your morning commute. [ sniffs ] ♪ music and dance ♪ calling you ♪ ♪ the best part of wakin' up... ♪ ♪ is folgers in your p >>> hello. we're at the regional park in sterling, virginia. come join us at our wonderful water park. the morning, washington. -- good morning, washington. >>> 5:42. your traffic and weather together every 10 minutes. this >> my pay a perfect day for a water park. no rain expected. >> there was

but you have been taking regular shots at timothy geithner and larry summers. >> i am very disturbed about the culture that i described their that got us into this mess. there's no evidence to suggest that it is ending. we have a speech rating being done by goldman sachs and others that have nothing to do with value. it has to do with getting rich quick, not building the country. it is an open question about the obama administration. >> we are recording this on monday. predict to us what you will be writing about when the sunday paper comes out. >> brian lamb, the life and the legend. i am looking at a lot of things. i am looking at the state of the health-care debate as it goes out into the country, whether obama is executing correctly on getting it done or not. i am looking at some of the economic issues we just talked about, among others. something could fall at of the sky between now and when i write. -- fall out of the sky between now and when i write. xday >> frank rich, thank you very much for joining us. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyri

timothy geithner says wall street is changing. >>> plus u.s.ales fell unexpectedly in july despite the cash for clunkers scheme. ♪ low and industrial production could be growing for the first time in months. >> i'm becky meehan. in europe, consumer prices fell more than expected in july bringing deflation to germany and italy. >> and here in asia, hong kong is officially out of the recession. gdp expanded in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. >> and welcome back to "worldwide exchange." here in the united states, four hours ahead of the opening bell, we have the futures holding steady, but pointing to a slightly higher open this morning after the s&p 500 closed at its highest level yesterday since last october and it is up a whooping 15% for the march lows. but this rally locks like there's no moving up. moving on to the treasury market, we had a big bond auction this week. the yield on the ten-year treasury note hit its lowest level since the end of last month yesterday and this morning it is continuing the downward trend sittin

that is the message timothy geithner mentioned with regulators. it was reported that the meeting was an expletive-laced meeting which is very unusual for the treasury secretary. everyone was there and ben ber nank skpet chairs. hampton pearson has details. >> some of those top regulators in the room for the reported geithner rant did show up in front of the banking committee today. nobody came with transcripts, but it was a condit conversation and a lot of what has been reported is true. what senator richard shelby wanted to know is whatever it was, the treasury secretary may have said through the independent regulators, would it impact their independence as far as criticizing the reform plan. does the come that you have provided not any way influence by secretary geithner's tirade against you? >> we do not clear our statements and we take that independent function very, very seriously. moving on, they continued to fire away at the obama reg plan in command of the committee. the target is the call for a single national bank regulator. >> we think

i watched larry summers and timothy geithner. the tax increases were on the table, and they are considering them. if you look at the energy bill, that is a huge increase. you know, there are taxes in your future, in my future, and everybody else's future, and they are going to be a lot higher. neil: either the administration was telling him, "let's gather around is now," , or maybe they want to get more from the rich, but you are saying this is a zero sum game. >> it is even worse. it is a negative sum game. there is an official document. if tax rates are lower, the top 1% pay more in taxes, not less in taxes as a share of gdp. they are the only group in america that pays more in taxes when tax rates are lowered, so if you're going to raise taxes on the top 1%, you are going to collect a lot less money. if you play that film back, neil, you are going to get less results. neil: some say that everybody is getting screwed, but you said that is not the case. >> that has nothing to do with getting tax is. when kennedy collected taxes,

timothy geithner went to asia trying to tell them everything was fine and they laughed at him when he started to tell them that everything was straight with the american economy. that is a horrible situation for us. greta: anke. do not forget to watch the governor saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. does president obama what a single payer universal health plan that will eliminate employer coverage? the president in his own words. >> i do not think we will be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. there will be a transition process. i can envision one decade out or 15 years out. single payer and universal health-care coverage, that is what i would like it to be. greta: some people are angry about his plan. some are taking to the streets. they are trying to sell that health care plan to voters. >> [unintelligible] i am not a member of congress. >> and you want us to believe that a government that cannot even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run a percentage of our u.s. economy? no. [applause] >> i have never seen this. it is unacceptable to me. hours and hours have been

timothy geithner says the deficit must be reduced for the economy to prosper long term and economic council director larry summers says funding maybe found to pay for overhauling the health care system. the president's economic team says the administration will work with congress to extend unemployment benefits. >>> the white house says it will suspend the cash for clunkers program if the senate doesn't approve another $2 billion for the plan this week. the house approved additional funding on friday. the percent pool could already be gone. just two weeks in to the program. we will have more "living $mart" news in our next half hour. >>> today we may learn whether it was about tornado that tore through part of maryland yesterday. some people in cecil county are convinced a twister hit their neighborhood. the storm downed a bunch of trees at a mobile home community in elkton. >> i was in my living room and looked out the front door and saw tree limbs spinning in a circle. looked like a tornado to me and it sounded like the house got tore up. >> reporter: if the damage was from a tornado it w

on two talk shows, treasury secretary timothy geithner and lawrence summers says we are not ready to rule out a tax lyme hike to lower thdeficit. the white house allowed himself to be caught in a hypothetical argument and said the administration will not raise taxes on the middle class. >> the president is clear about his commitment about not raising taxes on middle class families. i don't think they any economist would believe that in the economy we are in that raising taxes on the middle class would make any sense. >> it is another unwanted distraction for the white house which is dealing with uneasy democrats in congress who are heading home for the summer break and expecting tough questions from their voters about health care. the president may hear those concerns in person tomorrow when he hosts senate democrats at a white house meeting. >> thank you very much. >>> moving day for the folks at hilton hotels. more than 300 employees started to move in the company's world headquarters in tysons corner and these are the new bigs. park place ii. hilton is the third hotel chain to cal

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timothy geithner's asking congress to increase the debt load, and congress is spending hundreds of millions on private jets, when we excoriated car execs when they flew in on jets. are they that out of touch, dana? >> they are, and they're going to rallied it and they're going to pull back. they're got together to be able to get the jets they wanted. americans are really paying attention to what washington is spending, and there like, wait a minute, that's our checkbook. check with us before you write that check. >> but they're not going to have a choice. what tim geithner came out and said is i want to increase the debt because we're going to have notes due. we are in debt into the billions and trillions. we owe tons. they're holding $800 billion in u.s. debt. you cannot default. i mean, that's why tim geithner -- and i was asking myself this. why is he going overseas defending the dollar? this is why. he knew this was coming. congress won't have a choice. they're going to have to increase the debt limit. >> the only thing worse than china buying all of our bond is china not buying all of

timothy geithner says the deficit must be reduced for the economy to prosper long term. economic council director says funding must be found to pay for overhauling the health care system. the president's economic team says the administration will work with congress to extend unemployment benefits. >>> the popular cash for clunkers program may be suspended unless the senate approves additional funding. the obama administration says the program, would give americans up to $4,500 to the purchase of a new car and it will be halted week. the house of representativeses approved an additional $2 billion to keep the program going but the senate is yet to act. >> reporter: congress is setting its sights on big banking bonuses. the house voted to restrict controversial compensation packages after nine banks who took billions in federal bailout money paid thousands of employees millions in bonuses. >>> members of congress will take their case for and against health care reform to their constituents this month and the president is looking for a way to keep it from falling apart. joi

. >> we've seen the stories of the meeting you were at, timothy geithner, ben bernanke, were all there. are you going to all get to the same place on whether the fed will be the ultimate top dog or everybody at the table, the council of regulators is there going to be a united front here soon. >> at the end of the day it's congress's call what the legislation looks like. there's far more agreement than there is disagreement among the federal regulators, absolute commitment across the board to improving the financial regulatory system, making it much more robust and much more resilience jent to crises. whether it's going to be a stronger or less strong counsel, the fed as the systemic regulator or fed coupled with the council, i think the differences are pretty minor. i think we'll be able to work through those. >> why would a group, the council, would that be better than having it reside at the fed? >> the sec's position has been that there should be a much more empowered council and be a systemic regulator, second set of eyes, it certainly could be the fed, looking over the shoulder o

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wasn't until timothy geithner stepped in and said let's try to get everyone around a table and work out a solution that they began to do that. they could do that and they did it with a degree of success but it was pretty late in the day. they could do that in the case of credit derivatives or the settlement problem because it was tangible. and was an issue where everyone agreed it was a problem but no one knew how to act. was clear that the free-market was not solving it. that he was getting the matter on the table. a terrible tragedy in 2007 was although it was in the settlement area and the backlog, it was clear there was a problem, it was identified and there were showing how big the problem was, how many backlogs' there were. the general question of how big is the leverage, you couldn't get the countries to get together and say the system has spun out of control, it is not self healing, free market forces alone are not fixing the problem. it was moving too fast and it was very hard to see how big they had to be, because of a capacity of the system. that is it. >> talk a little bit a

timothy geithner and larry summers says the administration had not ruled out the possibility of tax increases to lower the deficit and pay for health care reform. the white house says the deficit will reach $1.8 trillion by the end of the fiscal year and health care reform could cost another $1 trillion on top of that. problems at the u.s. postal service they could close offices across the country. they have seen a decline in mail because more people are using internet to contact folks and pay bills. the post office has a list of offices that could close. there are 14 of them in the metro area here. go to wjla.com and we'll show it on there. >> the site of the deadly metro collision on the red line is back in the hands of metro. federal investigators have wrapped up their case and now it's up to metro to fix what they found. we are live from the in a coma station with how riders are going to be affected. julie. >> this means august will look a whole lot like july did for riders on the red line with delays of up to 60 minutes a day. six weeks after a crash killed nine people on the red line, t

let's listen to treasury secretary timothy geithner. >> when we have some recovery established led by the private sec sector, then we get to bring deficits down very dramatically. we get to bring it down to a level where the amount we're borrowing from the world is stable at a reasonable level. that's going to require some very hard choices and we'll have to do that in a way that doesn't add unfairly to the burdens that the average american already faces. >> doesn't add to the burden but it's not off the table. would taxing the middle class squeeze them too much? is it the wrong move for the economy? >> we're not really into a robust recovery yet, so i don't think this is an issue we have to face for quite a while. i actually think that what we need now is another round of stimulus. while there's been some recovery, there are lots of reasons to be worried, lots of reasons to believe that unemployment will continue to grow, and as long as that's the case, it's hard to believe that we will have a robust recovery. >> when you say that, another stimulus, those are fighting words here in w

gibbs had to dive on top of that grenade today, because it was going off, and larry summers and timothy geithner spoke the truth. you cannot keep spending money like this and run up the deficits without at some point having to pay for them. tax revenues are down. the economy is hurting. people do not have jobs, and when they do not have jobs, they cannot pay taxes. the president has to do what he has been doing a lot lady, and that is breaking promises, or he is going to have to tank the u.s. economy -- has to do what he has been doing a lot of lately. greta: the associated press is reporting that we are in the biggest tax revenue drop since 1932, that individual income-tax receipts are down essentially 22%. corporate income taxes are down 57%, and we are spending like drunken sailors. that is not a very good recipe. >> drunken sailors do not spend more than they have in their pocket. we are spending out into the next millennium. and even the health-care proposal, when you hear how much of this is going to cost, while they are not telling you is that the real cost factors come in years in the fu

treasury secretary timothy geithner says americans face tough choices ahead in order to reduce the federal deficit now at more than $1 trillion. and larry summers, the president's top economic adviser, wouldn't rule out a middle class tax increase down the road. >> there is a lot that could happen over time. but the priority right now, never a good idea to absolutely rule things, rule things outing, no matter what. >> reporter: but an economic recovery may be further away than the white house hopes. this nobel prize-winning economist and adviser joseph stilling lites. >> a little premature to be confident about a recovery and i think it is very premature to be confident about a robust economy by early next year. >> kate bolduan back with us now. so republicans, democrats, obviously at odds as it pertains to the economy and everything else these days is there anything we can say they do agree upon? >> reporter: freed rica, following reports that more than 1 million americans by the end of this year could lose their unemployment benefits, administration officials say they are carefully looki

george bush who was controlled by other people in his administration, he does not answer to timothy geithnerdoesn't answer to larry summers e he's the president of the united states. he said he's not going to raise taxes, he's not going to raise taxes, i don't know how much clear he could've been today. >> do you believe robert gibbs?? >> no, i do not. i give julie credit, she's going after that boogy man george bush. >> the one that left us with a $5 trillion deficit. yeah. >> at least tim geithner has intellectual integrity and not going to follow this white house down in their web of deceit. yeah they're going to raise taxes, but the real problem is this. for what?? for a stimulus bill that did nothing but give money to the states and didn't do any kind of -- >> give me a break. >> for the federal government getting into the business -- >> go ahead, keith. >> this is a ridiculous argument. all those criticism about obama has gone way overboard. they said the stimulus wasn't going to work, the economy's doing well, the gdp, you're saying yourself, dennis, we're out of the recession. gdp is

secretary of -- treasury secretary timothy geithner says that americans have some tough choices aheadn trying to reduce the exploding federal deficit that we face, and he says he is not ruling out raising taxes in the future. listen here, he spoke on abc's "this week." >> we have to do what's necessary. remember, the critical thing is people understanding that when we have recovery established, led by the private sector, then we have to bring these deficits down very dramatically. we have to bring them down to a level where the amount we're borrowing from the world is stable at a reasonable level. that's going to require some very hard chases. and we're going to have to try to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens that the average american already faces. >> now, secretary geithner also said that he expects the pace of job loss to slow and turn around to job creation, possibly next year. but republicans who are also on the talk shows, and they've also said this in the past, they say these signs are also -- the signs in the economy are also encouraging but they say

the death of mary jo, has tainted his represent timothy geithner for more than two decades. it is always on the edge of our view of the man. >> there is no proof that anita hill has perjured herself. >> reporter: just last week, kennedy's friend, orrin hatch, made this comment which he later withdrew. >> the fact of the matter is anybody believes that, i know a great place in massachusetts i'd be happy to seasoned to them. >> in 19 0 -- >> why do ewant to be president? >> well, i'm -- >> reporter: only after he had lost did he redeem himself with a moving conditionings speech. >> for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. >> his off the job life, divorce, stories of excess of drinking and woman niezing raised the specter of hypocrisy. >> he has epitomized the framing of the dialogue in a good versus bad moral framework. someone who does that and who has a semi-public life that strikes many people as immoral comes to represent i think and he has come to represent a kind of rank hypo

treasury secretary timothy geithner told george stephanopoulos that reducing health care costs will notough to reduce the deficit. >> that's necessary but not sufficient. >> revenues are on the table as well as? >> by revenues george meant new taxes. >> i think that what the country needs to do is understand we're going to have to could what it takes. >> larry summers suggested the president does not want to burden middle-class families but tax increases could happen. >> there's a lot that can happen over time. but the priority right now, it's never a good idea to absolutely rule things out no matter what. >> reporter: the white house tried to walk back both men's messages. >> the president has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle-class families. >> reporter: but the president has an ambitious agenda which includes deficit reduction. some economic expert say reducing the deficit will require raising taxes on the middle class. >> we're going to have to have higher revenue and that means additional taxes. the size of this problem is so big that you can't address it. >

but i have to say, gibbs was responding to a couple of statements from larry summers and timothy geithnerver the weekend, in which they also made clear that the president doesn't want to raise taxes on the middle class, but says over the long-term, to really deal with deficits, anything is possible. you can't really rule anything out. is that not a sensible way to look at the issue? >> well, first of all, that sound like doctored tape to me, i don't know. i think the president has made clear, he made clear throughout the campaign and since as president that the middle class has born the brunt of this bad economy. not just during this recession, but even before the recession, they weren't doing well. the last thing he wants to do is to add to their burden. one of the first things he did was give a tax cut to 95% of americans who were struggling in this economy. so what he wants to do is strengthen the middle class, strengthen our economy, and that's where his efforts, that's where his efforts lie. >> but doesn't geithner have a point in saying that over the long-term, if you really do want

. >> revenue increase -- timothy geithner and larry summers both made a lot of news last weekend when they refused to rule out a middle-class tax hike. can you do that now? >> well, if you think about what we've been proposing, it was things like limiting itemized deductions on high-income workers. so that's certainly something we had in mind. listen, it's so important. nobody is talking about raising taxes on middle-class families. that is why the first thing we did in the recovery act is to cut taxes for 95% of the american people. we are in the middle of a terrible recession. it would just be silly, bad policy. where we are standing, and it comes right back to all that we've been talking about, is slowing the growth rate of costs in health care. that's so important. >> we agree. dr. romer, thank you so much. we appreciate your time this afternoon. >> great to be with you. >> okay. there's a little more than 15 minutes before the closing bell. no, actually, there's 11 minutes till the closing bell. that backwards number, it takes me a while to get used to it, bob. dow and nasdaq in

host: that was secretary timothy geithner on abc.he peace in "the washington post" continues on with what he was talking about. "they simultaneously tried to remind americans of how bad conditions were at the beginning of the year, saying that the stimulus package is part of the reason that things looking better now. six months ago the economy was in a nosedive. people were talking about the possibility of another depression. none of that is the situation right now. do you see this as a sign that the economy has turned around? if not, when do you expect the economic recovery to take place? allen, west palm beach florida. good morning. caller: i actually got a job last week, so things are looking up. host: let me ask you, how long were you looking for a job? caller: i have my own business. i sell machines that are used in the industry, making maps for computer-controlled machines. i have not sold a new one in years. i have been selling used machines. i could not do that now. i got a job at a fabrication company. what i wanted to fall

. >> that's the clarification made of treasury secretary timothy geithner and economic adviser larry summers on the sunday morning talk shows, the two seemingly leaving the door open to a middle-class tax hike in order to pay down the deficit and afford health care reform. >> never a good idea to absolutely rule things out no matter what. >> we'll do what it takes, whatever is necessary. >> spokesman robert gibbs again stressed the president's xwhitment to not raise taxes on americans making less than $250,000 a year. >> there's no -- there's no real scenario there as the administration sees it where middle-class taxpayers might be hit with a hike? there's no scenario right now -- >> the president's been very clear. >> the president during the campaign, he is clear about that commitment and he's going to keep it. i don't know how much more clear about the commitment i can be. >> on the campaign trail, mr. obama drew a line in the sand. >> you will not see your taxes increased by a single dime, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax -- no tax. >> whether

and on abc "this week" treasury secretary timothy geithner says increases might be necessary at some point to get the budget deficit down. >> well, we are going to have to look at -- do what's necessary. the critical thing is that people understand we have recovery established led by the private sector, we have to bring the deficits down very dramatically. what the country needs to what the country needs to do is understand we are going to have to do what it takes dork what's necessary. >> if you paid close attention to the election campaign in 2008, you will find something clashes with what summers and geithner are saying to middle america. >> if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime, not your income tax, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains tax, no tax. >> so far, the white house hasn't commented on whether president obama has officially changed his position on the no tax increases pledge, but we really want your assessment of this. do you think that middle class americans should be asked to pay more in taxes to reduce the national

ben bernanke, timothy geithner, do you think they did the right thing? >> i saw what they did, i saw the financial edge we were on and they came up with this stress test plan and it worked. they addressed the situation and said, we have a plan to capitalize banks that are undercapitalized. a one-shot plan that this is the way every bank will be dealt with. not the very sort of ad hoc way the prior administration had dealt with things. and they were able to get people to believe, all right, there's a plan here, private capital felt comfortable, coming in, buying bank stocks. that helped to support the banks. they are healthier now. >> let's talk about the unemployment numbers, though, a downtick but could there be an uptick next month? have we turned the corner or could things potentially get worse? >> i think a lot of things happened so that there was a lot of noise in the numbers, the auto sector and that has abated. it could tick up, certainly, but the trend, the rate of decline has dramatically turned. >> 400,000 people who just stopped looking. do we

internationalists who run the administration, folks like larry summers, ron kirk, hillary clton, timothy geithner locke, they understand this. the silence in the white house has left a vacuum and congress like nature abhors a vacuum. a week ago the chamber joined with five other leading business groups in calling for the president to make the case for a leading -- a forward-leaning trade agenda including in his promised speech. we wrote, quote, the united states cannot standstill in the international economics sphere. we need to revitalize our export and international trade leadership. by moving forward on multilateral, regional and bilateral marketing opening opportunities. second, clear the decks. pass the ftas. if you want to build a growth-oriented international economic policy focusing on asia as the administration has said that it wants to do, korea and the fta with korea is the place to start. if you want to have any kind of engagement with the moderate governments of south amica, economic, political or otherwise, then columbia and the fta with columbia is the place to start. and if you ca