u.s. treasury bonds, the u.s. dollar going up. do you think that trade has legs? >> yes, we do. it very much so has legs. gold sold off on thursday pretty hard. gold used to be sort of a safe haven play, but now is risky. the u.s. dollar index is above 80. looks good for the dollar to continue. the treasuries maybe ranged out. there's a tug of war on the treasuries. they might be somewhere between 1120 on the bonds, 116. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> bank of america took a 5% hit thursday after fraud charges were announced against the bank. former c.e.o. and chief financial officer. new york general attorney filed a lawsuit in state court thursday alleging top management hid skyrocketing losses at merrill lynch totals $15 billion at the time it was bought out. the lawsuit alleges once the deal was approved, bank of america's management manipulated the federal government into saving the deal with billions in taxpayer funds, by falsely claiming that they intended to back out of the deal through a clause in the merger agreement. the bank received an additional $20 billion in taxpa

u.s. treasury.advisors are telling us that as long as we execute the plan that we are embarked upon, that certainly we can undertake the ipo in the next year or two. and then repay the rest of the money shortly thereafter. >> is rescap fixed? >> that's a very absolute question, and i can give you an absolute answer. i would say within the realms of reasonable business judgment, we have contained the foreseeable rescap risk. there are obviously a variety of scenarios in which rescap could be more problematic. for example, if we see a substantial double dip in house prices, that would certainly put stress on rescap. >> hasn't rescap originated in the loans which have been securitized in they are now put back to rescap? >> the answer is yes. >> do you know the dollar amount of that? >> i don't have it off the top of my head, but we could certainly get you those numbers. the way this works is if a fannie mae or freddie mac reaches the conclusion that they believe there was inadequate underwriting on loa

u.s. treasuries. so they'll complain a lot about u.s. inue to hold and keep buying those in the future. and i think that's another reason markets are sustaining reasonably low interest rates in the u.s. there's nobody really, the europeans, the japanese, the chinese, others in asia, nobody really wants to see a collapse of the dollar. and a lack of access to the u.s. market, which is -- which is still so important. to the global economy. quickly, i'm going to slowly -- there was a question about can we grow our way out of the problem? and in the earlier panel john podesta mentioned a number of things that had been done that gave rise to the budget deficits when he and i were in the clinton administration. and he's absolutely right. there were some very hard choices that were made around policy. but we were also helped very substantially by the rapid growth of the economy. that we had an increase in the rate of productivity growth. we had very strong employment. now, some of those things may have been helped by the policies that were follo

u.s. treasury. >> america was meant to be a capitalist system, where there's supposed to be a level playing field. what has happened here is that goldman has basically usurped this to its own advantage, depth perception that people have in the united states. as i say, now the investment banks look like they're apex predator who's have bought and sold our congress, and goldman seems to be predator x because they have such influential positions in washington and they are basically in the public eye, seem to be running a financial oligarchary while claiming superiority. >> in 2001 it did a complicated currency deal to make greece's debt look smaller than it was. the deal was legal at the time but has since been made impossible to repeat. in t now turns out goldman was also doing deals for other stricken e.u. countries. >> but you seat point? >> oh, i see the point. >> it enabled politicians to mask additional borrowing. banks like yours have, in fact accentuated the risk, sovereign risk of these countries which the markets now cause and effect of them. >> i think it is reasonably clear to me w

u.s. treasuries. so they'll complain a lot about u.s. treasuries but i suspect they will continue to hold and keep buying those in the future. and i think that's another reason markets are sustaining reasonably low interest rates in the u.s. there's nobody really, the europeans, the japanese, the chinese, others in asia, nobody really wants to see a collapse of the dollar. and a lack of access to the u.s. market, which is -- which is still so important. to the global economy. quickly, i'm going to slowly -- there was a question about can we grow our way out of the problem? and in the earlier panel john podesta mentioned a number of things that had been done that gave rise to the budget deficits when he and i were in the clinton administration. and he's absolutely right. there were some very hard choices that were made around policy. but we were also helped very substantially by the rapid growth of the economy. that we had an increase in the rate of productivity growth. we had very strong employment. now, some of those things may have been

u.s. treasury, sell u.s. stocks, isn't china too deep into our economy to do anything like that?hey can't sell the first big tranche of that stuff without killing the prices of everything else that they hold? >> they would be stupid to do that. people like peter have been predicting that this is some lever they hold over us. it would be foolish. they're not going to kick u.s. companies out of china because they're bringing technology and helping them. >> peter? i love your stuff, peter but -- i love your stuff but you've been doing this a lot. i never heard one thing from you, what you want to do instead. do you want to bail out of china, peter? for cell phones, for cars -- >> dennis, hold on. >> no, he was asking a question. you didn't let him ask it. >> i'm trying toan answer your question. the best weapon for china, one you don't have to use. they're holding money and threatening backed off the country, backed off tim geithner, backed off barack obama, from branding china a currency manipulator. obama said he would do that when he's on the campaign trail in pennsylvania and oh

i didn't want to go down in history as the secretary of the treasury that had the u.s.nd the global economy collapse on his watch. >> rose: looking back, now that you've had a chance to write this book and you've had a chance to think about this and you're being called again to testify because it's an ongoing effort to understand not only what happened but how to prevent it from happening again. we'll talk about financial reforms. what do you regret? where did you look back and say "that was the wrong call, by me, geithner, bernanke"? >> charlie i've thought about this a lot and i'm going to give you a number of mistakes i think i was involved in making. but the in 20/20 hindsight, the major decisions we made, i'm totally convinced, were the right calls and they were made in the face of unprecedented challenges with really imperfect tools without the authorities we needed in the middle of a very challenging political period with an election coming. and the reason i they is they worked and they prevented the collapse. so most of what is cited as mistakes were really thin

u.s. treasury secretary for 2006 to fill some nine and as the ceo of the investment firm goldman sachs from 1999 to 2006. this event was part of the greater omaha chamber of commerce 2010 annual meeting. to find out more, this it omahachamber.org. >>> we are at west virginia university in morgantown west virginia with john temple, author of the last warrior the fight to save death row inmates. ken rose and said boe jones. >> to man about the same age and they both live in north carolina. boe jones was a farm hand from the plan county north carolina who was convicted of murder and 1993 for a murder that occurred in 1987 and he was sentenced to death and spent i believe 13 years on death row. ken rose is the lawyer, who in 1997 took on his case shortly before boe was scheduled to be executed and he has represented boe ever since and i spent four and a half years following that case. >> what got you interested in this case? have you always been interested in the law? >> my wife is a lawyer but it's not a field life studied. all i was drawn to the idea of writing about lawyers who exclusively r

u.s. treasury secretary from 2006 to 2009, and as the ceo of the investment firm goldman sachs from 1999 to 2006. this event was part of the greater omaha chamber of commerce's 2010 annual meeting. to find out more visit omaha chamber.org. speaking with robert in more the third about his book they always said i was very a wide go, coming to grips with rates in america. i will start off with, who said that you would always make a white coat, and why did they say that? >> i think that was more of an internal feeling on my part. i grew up in a very passing time period during the 1960s. i was one of the few african-american fans, perhaps the only african-american family to ride the wave of millions of of why to left urban america at the time to go to the suburbs. at the same time many african-american for coming off the land of rural america and going to the cities. so i thought very unique, i felt caught in between. i think two groups almost like two sides and it was a time period that was pre-multiculturalism, and so i felt internally that perhaps i was destined to marry someone who was white

u.s. treasury department announced enhanced sanctions against a general in the elite "revolutionary guard" and four construction firms he runs. they're accused of funneling money into iran's weapons programs. president obama said tuesday the u.s. is moving to get other major powers to isolate the iranian regime as well. >> what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the international community as a whole. >> warner: but in tehran today, the iranian leadership gave every impression that they think they're riding high. for more on today's developments-- political and nuclear-- we go to reza aslan, an iranian born author and journalist now living in the u.s. he's a professor of creative writing at the university of california, riverside. flynt leverett, who has held posts at the state department, national security council staff and c.i.a. he's now with the new america foundation, a washington think tank, and teaches at penn state university. and david albright, a former u.n

u.s. treasury bills overall are owned by china.nd actually, china has an awful lot more to lose if the value of that goes down than people normally think. >> it's interesting, the first year, it seems, of the obama administration, it was all about reaching out to china. it was almost like creating a g-2 of sorts instead of a g-8 or g-20. all the backgrounders that i and savannah would get would be like, no, no, we're retaching ot to china, trying to make this new partnership. and all of a sudden, it seems like there's a change in tone. >> i think it's more likely to be more of a screwup than a change in tone. they deliberately delayed two of the most contentious issues, which is the arms sale to taiwan and the meeting with the dalai lama. they didn't want to do that last year, because you had obama going to china in november, copenhagen in december, they didn't want to hurt the atmospherics. >> so to make it feel as if there's some sort -- >> and there's one extra thing as well. the last three presidents, the bushes and clinton bot

u.s. treasury could take this up and label china its currency manipulator.united states. we have to look for new multilateral ways forward. china has to stop manipulating its exchange rate in this unfair manner. host: simon johnson let me show you the headline on the front page of the "financial times" this morning. it's as treasury bonds fell by a record amount in december as china purged its holdings of government debt. what is behind this? guest: china is looking for other options. i would point out, though, there are not a lot of good options. the prospects for the euro, given what we are seeing increased and their ability to resolve those problems are not strong. i think the foreigners will continue to buy u.s. assets, primarily china and central banks, they will be buying u.s. securities. that is a good thing, but in the long run it creates a major weakness for us. if we have a strategy to bring our debt under control, then i would not worry too much. but if our fiscal policies are off track. if we do not have a way toward a reduction in our deficit an

this is where treasuries stand ahead of all the u.s. data we com got coming out today. the yield is tick up 3.66%. ten-year bund yield is ticking higher, 3.23%. andy hartwill is still with us. we focus very much on the i-370 b. if we go good data, will really respect to it positively, or not? >> no, i don't think so. it seems that the lows in 2009, who would have thought that. and the yield depression between equity and bonds has been 10%. equity yeeltdz within earnings yields, 10% points higher than backhand yields. quite remarkable. we're anticipating this kind of recovery. it's weak as far as we go. only until we get data are we likely to see any positive reaction on these sort of data woints. >> as we withdraw liquidity to this part of the air, what happens? is the weak economy going to make them a buy, you know, halfway through 2 year. >> make your mind up time around the middle of the year. you have the inflation trend lines somewhat 306. i wouldn't get overexcited about it, but they're somewhat positive. high, very high levels of public sector debt. bond yields r

u.s. will honor its debts in the future. they will likely demand higher interest rates to common say the for the higher risk of purchasing treasurysecurities. and this would increase the cost of federal borrowing, result in an even greater budget deficits and require higher taxes and fewer government services. a greater portion of u.s. wealth will be transferred to overseas creditors to china, india and saudi arabia. it's also possible that those creditors will demand that the u.s. borrow in other occurrencies rather than dollars putting in peril the very value and stability of the american dollar. it's clear that the responsible course of action is to raise the debt limit. it is also clear that we're in this position because of the policies that have been implemented over the past decade. 10 years ago, madam speaker, we had a budget surplus. since then our country was attacked and the worse recession in our lifetimes took a severe economic toll on our nation's economy. but we also had two wars that were unpaid for. tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy, that were unpaid for. and a prescription drug benefit that was unpaid for. yes, r

u.s. treasury holdings. last year they publicly worried about whether they investments were safe. recently they have expressed the belief that they should respond with some of the obama administration decisions by selling billions of treasury holdings. while china does not have a financial interest in rapidly -- i don't they believe in dumping the u.s. dollar assets, may have other competing political interests. do you believe that there is a risk to stability of the initial system associated with risk to the value of the dollar perhaps stemming are coming from international nations -- relations between the china and u.s. and second lady you believe that china's large dollar reserve holdings pose a threat to the stability of the global financial system given the leverage those holdings provide to china to enable it to pursue a policy of paying its currency at an artificially low value perhaps i know that's a novel but i think these are important questions. >> let me try to redress that. first is the factual question i don't think there's been any significant change in china's hold

u.s. treasuries which means they have to convert their money into dollars.ng the dollar move higher also. the stocks selling off on this, of course, the vix almost has to go higher. >> what we saw in oil, do you attribute it to any of these -- we started to see rumors coming across e-mails about a commodity hedge fund out there that's taken a really big hit. >> they were talking about that yesterday afternoon. we've heard a little bit more about that this morning, although they were denying it this morning. i think pretty much most of the sell-off has to do with the strength of the dollar and the weakness in stocks. we're going to see continued strength in the dollar. >> how do you establish a position going in to a weekend, a weekend where you may get news out of europe, and you have the fed chief testifying next week on capitol hill? what do you do? >> you know, at this point right now, it's very difficult to maintain any sort of position going into the weekend. the confidence is not there. technically all levels have been broken below the 10000 level. psy

u.s. treasury doesn't seem to understand because on the other hand the trillions of dollars to the banks and they didn't think it was a good idea to put conditions on it but they actually could have. [applause] >> as we talk about the bank's, raj, leal pure visas in the value of nothing. >> it is becoming abundantly clear the free markets or free-market capitalism has led us down. it was shocking to me to see alan greenspan in october, 2008, had met that there was a flaw in the ideology that he thought had been working well for 40 years. >> you can go to "democracy now!" bald cord when we had a raj on the other day, just put speed line or raj and alan greenspan together. >> please don't do that. [laughter] and we play an excerpt of henry waxman questioning alan greenspan as he talks about the flaw in this thinking. >> we are confronted with this and the way the mainstream media dealt with it is alan greenspan got it wrong, the movie at 11. [laughter] and there wasn't a deeper engagement with actually this is one of the songs of the free market policy having to take it back and now of course

u.s. treasury on a no-bid contracts, contracts that were poorly done by dick cheney's former company and everythingtear it because they were running behind, pushing them along, saying kill them people because they are foreigners. host: here is a headline from "the huff -- here is a headline from the huffington post. "two house members plan to push 8 stand by every act, which would force corporate chiefs to issue a message saying that specifically this ceo approved this campaign message." that this legislation being worked on in the house, if you are interested in that pit when we come back, we will talk to tony blankley, former "washington times" editor, as well as tim fernholz, a staff writer at "the american prospect." we will be right back. >> it is really easy to just complain about the issues and the politics, but to be entertaining, informative, and relevant, obviously, but in a way that offers solutions. >> progressive talk radio host and author of over 30 books, thom hartmann is our guest on "q&a." >> this weekend, a nobel prize- winning economist joseph stiglitz on c-span2's book tv. >> fo

u.s. will honor its debts in the future. they will likely demand higher interest rates to common say the for the higher risk of purchasing treasuryecurities. and this would increase the cost of federal borrowing, result in an even greater budget deficits and require higher taxes and fewer government services. a greater portion of u.s. wealth will be transferred to overseas creditors to china, india and saudi arabia. it's also possible that those creditors will demand that the u.s. borrow in other occurrencies rather than dollars putting in peril the very value and stability of the american dollar. it's clear that the responsible course of action is to raise the debt limit. it is also clear that we're in this position because of the policies that have been implemented over the past decade. 10 years ago, madam speaker, we had a budget surplus. since then our country was attacked and the worse recession in our lifetimes took a severe economic toll on our nation's economy. but we also had two wars that were unpaid for. tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy, that were unpaid for. and a prescription drug benefit that was unpaid for. yes, re

u.s. treasury bills at the same time.t go forward and have a meeting with the dahli llama, as president bush and other presidents have done? >> absolutely. you know, the day we kowtow or bow to any other foreign nation just because they own some of our debt would be a terrible statement that we could make as americans. i hope he meets with the dahli llama. the dalai lama is the leader of people, so i'm glad he plans to meet with him. let's hope he meets during the day so we can cover it live here on cnn. >> what do you think, mary? >> absolutely. the hesitancy with which he supported -- or seemed not to support the freedom fighters in iran, we still are the bastian of human rights. we can't capitulate just because they have $800 billion worth of treasuries, but this is an interesting that people need to understand the intersection of our unsustainable structural debt and national security. this is where it comes into play. they own us, and they also are a key vote on iran and lots of other national security issues, so we

u.s. treasury department or hud.gov -- those would be the websites to look into it regarding the tax creditfication got to my knowledge, it is for people independent of the loan situation -- people buy a home and make it into the primary residence, as long as the person has the income i believe below $200,000, or $225,000 for married couples, and they don't purchase a home in excess of $800,000, i believe that most people would qualify for the tax credit. it is a matter of purchasing a home and making it to the primary residence independent of the loan situation. host: lawrence yun, could you to join us. -- good of you to join us. guest: thank you very much for having me. host: coming up, julian zelizer is the professor at princeton. his latest book is "arsenal of democracy." we will be right back. >> now for educators, sees that offers the new c-span atclassroom. -- cspanclassroom.org. you can find that most watched a video clips, organized by subjects and topics, the latest in education news, and a chance to connect with others c-span classroom teachers, and it is all free. the u.s. senat

u.s. treasury is basically the last borrower left standing.in the short run. but as you go out of time, and farming -- private borrowing picks up, you want to make sure that you're getting ahead of the fiscal deficit problem, so that you're not substantially crowding out private activity. now with regard to representative ryan, have a lot of respect for him and i have read the plan that he put forward. it is worthy to delve into that for a moment, because it provides a contrast. his plan succeeds in addressing our long-term fiscal problem, which is a significant accomplishment. but let's examine how he does that. he takes the medicare program, and those for -- and for those 55 and below turns it into a voucher program, so that individuals are on their own health care market. and the voucher does not keep pace with health care costs over time. so it is not surprising that if you shift dramatically, both in terms of risk and expected cost, obligations from the federal government onto individuals, you can reduce the projected cost. he introduces

u.s. treasury is basically the last bar or of left standing. left standing. in the severe economic economy, that is exactly what should happen. if you go out over time and private borrowing picks up, you want to make sure you're getting ahead of the fiscal deficit problem so you are not crowding out activity. with regard to rep ryan, i have a lot of respect to mr. ryan in the plan he put forward. it is worthy to delve into that for a moment because it provides a contrast. his plan succeeds in addressing our long term fiscal problem, which is a significant accomplishment, but let's examine how he does that. he takes the medicare problem, and for those 55 and below turns it into a voucher program so individuals are on their own in the health-care market, and the voucher does not keep pace with health care over time. it is not surprisingly if you shift dramatically in terms of risk and expected costs, obligations from the federal government onto individuals, as you can reduce projected costs. he introduces individual accounts, privatization, into

u.s. treasury on a no-bid contracts, contracts that were poorly done by dick cheney's former company and everything convention from nashville. remarks from former vice- presidential candidate sarah palin. she will bring the keynote address to the convention. after her speech, we will take your phone calls and comments. that is tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern on c-span. here's a look at some of the sights and sounds so far from the convention in nashville. . . >> we're going to be showing it in the ballroom at 9:00 tonight. >> we have our newsletter here. >> this segment is brought to an part by the san antonio teat party. [unintelligible] [indistinct conversations] that is part of the scene in washington where the tea party convention is going on in nashville this weekend. we will have lots of coverage beginning tonight at 9:00 eastern. we will have sarah palin at 9:00 tomorrow evening as well. the president will be talking about job creation initiatives and more coming up in just a few minutes. we expect him to start speaking. we will have live coverage here on c-span. we will have live coverage of

u.s. treasury to support the debt relief for pt from the international financial institutions.stand senator demint would like additional change to this bill but that does not preclude his support at this point in time so we will agree to work with him prior to the consideration to address his concerns. the agenda also includes the senate resolution which reintroduced with the senators casey and menendez, john miranda and nelson and that is on the recovery rehabilitation rebuilding of haiti following the humanitarian crisis. there has been one request for a holdover on one nomination and so we will vote on that nomination of the next business meeting. so i'm not aware of any request for a roll call vote. if there is not i would suggest we vote on block. is there for the date? >> let me thank senator lugar and hewey obviously this is not a comprehensive response to the haiti issue. it's trying to do with the debt issues that he has and to look more to the grants than loans at this point given the problems. we originally included all material dealing with trade issues to eliminate

u.s. treasury rates would be somewhat lower you would see that right away it would have a beneficial impact on growth succumbing up a plan that is credible would make material difference to the old look. speaking like a pact with the bush tax cuts are good for america? tankink tebeau i will stop. dr. hassett, a consumer demand. hard to know what families are thinking about. obviously looking at their own worried about their jobs and lots of things going through. the thing i hear and it may be in tangible from the economic issue but could get and spending is the number-one concern of consumers. does that make on the decisions a family makes on purchasing a new tv set or making an economic decision? >> sure. thanks for the question mr. brady. there's a great deal of scholarship in the area fit respect to milton friedman the recent tiberi tax cuts like the ones we observed last year don't have a really big effect is the people know they are going to have to pay with heave become future higher taxes and so they're skeptical about the fact to take a dollar from them this year and give it next ye

u.s. treasury department from having a full complement of people that can think through and work through tot this country back on track, restart the economic engine and put people back to work again? how do you justify deciding that we shouldn't have a full implement of people to do that? -- full complement of people to do that? we had a fully qualified surgeon general nominated in this country, and that surgeon general nominee was blocked, even after the h1n1 flu had been declared a major health threat. think of that -- blocked even after it had become a major health threat. we had ambassador of iraq -- obviously an important position -- blocked at a time of war, scwhrus we most needed to resolve some of those -- just as we must needed to resolve some of those issues. one single senator on the other side held up the nomination of the deputy u.s. trade representative for nine months -- nine months that was held up -- to try to force that u.s. trade representative's office to file a complaint against canada on some issue. i don't have the foggiest idea what that issue was, but i tell you thi

u.s. treasury department or hud.gov -- those would be the websites to look into it regarding the tax creditmodification got to my knowledge, it is for people independent of the loan situation -- people buy a home and make it into the primary residence, as long as the person has the income i believe below $200,000, or $225,000 for married couples, and they don't purchase a home in excess of $800,000, i believe that most people would qualify for the tax credit. credit. it is a matter ofof purchasing a the sure to join us tomorrow for more "washington journal" when our guest will speak about the proposed bills in the senate. mark moyar on the war in afghanistan. richard norton smith will also be our guest. that will be tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. coming up next, more from this morning's "washington journal" on questions about the political process for national security. then the chairman of the democratic national committee tim kaine. taking a look at the $787 billion stimulus plan signed into law one year ago, over $303 billion has been committed. take a look at the website to keep track of the

. >> tom: speaking of debt, former treasury secretary henry paulson says the u.s. government will get back every penny given to u.s. banks during the economic meltdown. he predicts uncle sam could even make a profit. billionaire investor warren buffett agrees. the two men appeared together today at the omaha chamber of commerce annual meeting. >> suzanne: president obama is optimistic about completing one of his short-term goals: passing a bill designed to accelerate job creation. but the 362-page measure is still in draft form, and it includes only a few new provisions for creating jobs. namely, a $10 billion plan that exempts companies from paying the employer's share of social security payroll taxes for new workers hired this year. today, the president acknowledged that the legislation may not be ideal, but he says, it could be a good first step. >> we're seeing an increase in temporary workers, but they haven't yet taken on that full- time worker. and so providing some additional impetus to them, right as the economy is moving in a positive direction, i think c

treasury secretary timothy geithner says the u.s. financial system is healing, but there's a lot of repair work ahead. his comments came from a prepared statement summing up how the administration worked to stabilize financial markets over the past year. still ahead, will airlines stocks soar higher this year? we ask our "street critique" guest julius maldutis, chief airline analyst at aviation dynamics. >> suzanne: wintry weather is slamming the mid-atlantic and northeast tonight. it's the second massive snowstorm to plow through the region in less than a week. in washington, d.c., the severe weather has forced the federal government to shut down for three days, at a cost of roughly $100 million in lost productivity a day. the snow has also postponed the release of economic reports which have been pushed back to friday at the earliest. scott gurvey takes a look at other ways mother nature is weighing on the economy. >> reporter: the double whammy of snow which has pounded parts of the nation is playing havoc with lives and budgets i

u.s. government. >> where they fees from other banks, they come from your treasury, where? >> they come from fed obviously can print money. >> did they take money that they had from fees charged to number bank or print money? >> you'd have to ask the fed that. >> you were not aware. >> i would not like to answer that question. >> you may not like to. but what is your best understanding? >> my best understanding is all dollars are green. so those are ultimately taxpayers dollars. that was why -- >> we are painfully aware they are taxpayers dollars, sir. >> that was why the treasury was supportive and we -- we were very supportive of our transaction. >> we all understand that the full faith and a promise comes from the government. i'm asking you whether since they didn't come to congress for appropriation where the $85 billion came from fees charged to member banks, was newly printed, or some combination. >> i don't believe it came from fees charged from member banks. >> all right. thank you. now we got to the point where a decision had to be made about whether or not to let

u.s. economic activity contracted particularly sharply following the intensification of the global financial crisis in the fall of 2008. concerted efforts by the federal was served, the treasurypartment, and other u.s. authorities to stabilize the financial system, together with highly stimulative monetary and fiscal policies, helped arrest the decline and are supporting a nascent economic recovery. indeed, the u.s. economy expanded at about 4% annual rate during the second half of last year. a significant portion of that growth can be attributed to the progress firms made in working down unwanted inventories of unsold goods, which left them more willing to increase production. as the impetus provided by the inventory cycle is to prepare -- is temporary, and as the fiscal support for economic growth likely will diminish later this year, a sustained recovery will demand -- depend on the continued growth in private- sector final demand for goods and services. private final demand does seem to be growing at a moderate pace. in particular, consumer spending has recently picked up, reflecting gains in real disposable income and household wealth and tentative signs of stabilization

treasury may need to staff in. tavis: the senate was told today that another attempted terrorist attack on u.s.l is almost certain. your thoughts? >> unfortunately, it is not a surprise. i think we know we are opposed by relentless adversaries, people who believe in an ideology of islamic jihad. unfortunately, we saw this latest incident on christmas day in the form of somebody flying on a delta aircraft in the united states, not somebody would normally suspect. because of our visa policies, this individual had a tourist visa in houston, texas, previously, and was going into detroit on this trip. this is not a matter of just screening people at the airport, this is a matter of immigration laws and make sure that only people who are not threats to our country get visas. tavis: is also a matter of not connecting the dots? >> also -- absolutely, and it is also as treating this as an act of terror. i used to be a judge for 13 years and have a fair amount of experience in our civil justice system. it is really set up to punish people after an event has occurred. it is not very well set up to give ac

. >> concerted efforts by the federal reserve, treasury department, and other u.s.uthorities to stabilize the financial system together with highly stimulative monetary and fiscal policies helped arrest the decline and are supporting a national economic recovery. indeed, the u.s. economy expanded at about a 4% annual rate during the second half of last year. a significant portion of that growth, however, can be attributed to the progress that firms have made in working down unwanted inventories of unsold goods, which have left them more willing to increase production. as the impetus provided by the inventory cycle is temporary and as the fiscal support for economic growth would likely diminish later this year, a sustained recovery will depend on continued growth in private sector final demand for goods and services. private final demand does seem to be growing at a moderate pace bouyed in part by improving general financial conditions. in particular consumer spending has recently picked up reflecting gains in real disposable income and household wealth and tentative

u.s. is printing money through the treasury did. that g-7 country right now is not the treasury. very hard to compensate the global imbalances through currencies which at the end of the day create jobs. this is going to be a key item on the agenda when france takes over next year for g20. can you comment on what you think is the imbalances created by today's currencies that do not trade in the same way? is a central bank that does not have the same freedom and a time when jobs are at risk? this has an impact both on the g20 and more importantly japan, europe, and the dollar. thank you. >> trichet, you are the central banker. >> i want to be sure that i heard that the central bank had not the same periods did he you? i'm sorry to say. the federal reserve. i don't doubt that for one second. on the currency's i would only say that, ay that, as you know,n bernanke and tim geithner are saying in the interest of the united states. the other major currencies. i say myself i fully agree it is in the interest of the united states. i would also say that it corresponds to the overall superi

u.s. printing money through the treasury, the japanese are doing the same.global imbalances through currencies. president sarkozy so that this is going to be a key item on the agenda when france takes over the presidency next year 40-20. alances created by today's currencies that do not trade in the same way? the central bank, they do not have the same freedom at a time when jobs or it risk in the various areas, and this has an impact, both on the g-20 emerging, and most of portly japan, euro area, and the dollar area. thank you. >> you are the central banker. >> i want to be sure i heard that the central bank had not the same freedom. did you say that? [inaudible] it seems to me that the federal reserve is independent, and i do not doubt that for one second. on the currencies, i would only say that, as you know, ben bernanke and tim geithner are saying a strong dollar is in the interests of the united states, in relation to the other major floating currencies. i say myself, on my part, i fully agree. a strong dollar is in the interests of the united states.

u.s. is printing money through the treasury. the japanese are doing the same. europe is the only country there right now does not have the treasury, and it is hard to compensate the global imbalances through currencies, which at the end of the day, create jobs or blocks of jobs. president sarkozy so that this is going to be a key item of the agenda when france takes over the presidency for the g-eight, and i think, d-20. can you comment on what you think are the imbalances created by today's currencies that do not trade in the same way? the central bank, they do not have the same freedom at a time when jobs or it risk in the various areas, and this has an impact, both on the g-20 emerging, and most of portly japan, euro area, and the dollar area. thank you. >> you are the central banker. >> i want to be sure i heard that the central bank had not the same freedom. did you say that? [inaudible] it seems to me that the federal reserve is independent, and i do not doubt that for one second. on the currencies, i would only say that, as you know, ben bernanke and tim

considers a fourth round of sanctions against iran, the u.s. -- just yesterday, the treasury announced sanctions targeting the islamic of the rrtc for its involvement involving iran's nuclear missile programs. as they continue to consolidate control of the iranian economy including the telecommunications sector, it is crucial to ensure that the government of iran is held to account for its ongoing violations of international law and activities which have made it a growing threat to global security. the people taking the streets of iran are the most courageous in the world and congress will continue to reiterate their right. we will not sit by as the government of iran continues to deny its people essential freedoms of human rights and we put iran or any government which aims to silence its people on notice that its behavior is unacceptable to the united states. as president obama stated in his nobel peace prize acceptance speech -- quote -- "we will bear witness to the hundreds of thousands who march silently through the streets of iran, it is telling that the leaders of these governme

u.s. government had committed more than $180 billion to help a.i.g. that number has come down some, but the company still borrowed $3 billion from the treasury last quarter to repay short term loans and the government still owns almost 80% of the company. whether taxpayers get most of their money back depends on the success of a.i.g.'s new strategy. >> nuts and bolts of basic insurance. they are going to return to basics. they are going to unwind a.i.g.f.p. they are going to get out of the fancy financial stuff and get back into insurance. that's the main strategy right now. >> reporter: so what's the bottom line for taxpayers? the treasury now expects to lose $48 billion on the government's investment in a.i.g.. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> tom: the billions spent on a.i.g.'s bailout have contributed to the mounting national debt. today, president obama named four new members to his panel charged with reducing that red ink. they are alice rivlin, a former federal reserve vice president; honeywell international chief executive david cote; andy stern, president of the two million member service employees international union and

treasury yields have been kind of tame. and, in fact, investors are moving into u.s. assets and not away from them during all this. so another reason to say this is europe's problem. we're keeping our hands out of this, keeping our math out of this conversation. >> all right. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, john. >> mark, as mary reminded me, goldman sachs is only taking stock so he will only have stock too. >> yeah. sure. coming up the guy who made the most money for his institutional most money for his institutional clients through last year. >>> here is what's happening 30 minutes into trading. >> what, mark, is happening? >> there we go. the white house's christina romer tells "squawk on the street" she is encouraged by the january jobs report and that president obama will announce another lending program for small businesses today. stocks are moving modestly. travelers, the biggest gainer on the dow up more than 1%. boeing the big loser. tyson, airgas, trading at -- 52-week highs. >> hum. interesting. by the way, did you hear in china something is happening? the trade wars are heating up. we sent back t

u.s. trade representative and trade ministries and other countries get captured by particular special-interest. the finance ministry's, treasury reflects wall street in the similar financial institutions and each of the country's. so that is how you can have the leader saying we want -- we need more regulation if we are going to prevent a recurrence and if the wto, they are saying we have to push the agenda of deregulation even though we had the biggest race the last 75 years caused by deregulation and even though the spread it around the world was facilitated by a capital market and financial market liberalization. this is a special interest agenda and i think in a sense this dissidents has brought home the extent of capture of these ministries and the difference between what is in the national interest and what is going on in these particular international agencies. >> host: that is credited a perfect segue because we have to take a short break before coming back to talk about the difference between the bush and obama administration approach to regulation and also what can be done going forward. >> "after words" and several

u.s. tax law. i would have to defer to the treasury department and the irs for an answer. >> just before the copenhagenclimate change conference, there was a program announced by which the patent department would a accelerate examination of green patent applications to more quickly bring those to market. how will the government deal with the increased risk of giving patents to ideas that should not receive them? >> we know that a lot of these innovations have the potential to create good paying jobs, a lot of good jobs. we need to get these ideas commercialized as quickly as possible. that is why we have an express line for patent applications dealing with certain sectors of green energy, not all. they are very tight areas and very narrow areas. we are on a mission within the patent and trademark office to substantially speed up the review process of all patent applications. right now, it takes more than three years before an application is granted or denied. that is unacceptable. that is unacceptable. having patent pending is no great comfort. it is like saying you have on clear title to your house or

u.s. economic activity contracted particularly sharply following the intensification at the global financial crisis in the fall of 2008. concerted efforts by the federal reserve, the treasury department and other u.s. authorities to stabilize the financial system together with highly stimulative monetary and fiscal policies helped to arrest the decline and are supporting and nation's economic recovery. indeed the u.s. economy expanded at about a 4% annual rate during the second half of last year. a significant portion of that growth can be attributed to the progress that firms made in working get unwanted inventories of unsold goods which lets them more willing to increase production. as the impetus provided by the inventory cycle is temporary, and fiscal support for economic growth likely will diminish later this year, a sustained recovery will depend on continued growth in private sector final demand for goods and services. private final demand does seem to be growing at a moderate pace. more in part by general bolden of financial conditions. in particular consumer spending has recently picked up reflecting gains in disposal income and household wealth and tentative sign

u.s. lighthouse service was established by the treasury department.the continental navy was abolished after the revolution, so in the 1790 alexander hamilton crated it to enforce our nation's custom loss. -- customs laws. it is the oldest seagoing service of the united states. today, it is a major source of rescue and assistance in times of disaster and emergency. from the 1980 boat lift to the 1991 haitian exodus of 40,000 refugees and the indian ocean tsunami, the u.s. coast guard played a vital role in hurricane katrina. a rescued nearly 25,000 people and medically evacuated close to 10,000. the coast guard is assisting in the haiti earthquake aftermath as we speak. its duties include law enforcement, search and rescue, and our mental protection, polar ice operations and national security. i think all of us in washington can relate to the polar ice apart. today he is speaking on the state of the coast guard and his view of the future. let us extend a warm press club welcome. >> thank you very much for that kind introduction. if i could add a couple

u.s. tax law. i would have to defer to the treasury department and the irs for an answer. >> just before the copenhagenlimate change conference, there was a program announced by which the patent department would a accelerate examination of green patent applications to more quickly bring those to market. how will the government deal with the increased risk of giving patents to ideas that should not receive them? >> we know that a lot of these innovations have the potential to create good paying jobs, a lot of good jobs. we need to get these ideas commercialized as quickly as possible. that is why we have an express line for patent applications dealing with certain sectors of green energy, not all. they are very tight areas and very narrow areas. we are on a mission within the patent and trademark office to substantially speed up the review process of all patent applications. right now, it takes more than three years before an application is granted or denied. that is unacceptable. that is unacceptable. having patent pending is no great comfort. it is like saying you have on clear title to your house or