Republicans blame US Treasury Secretary for financial mess
Tim Geithner had to defence of his record as US Treasury secretary as Republicans said his policies had failed and he should resign, the FT reports.
He told Republican critics he was dealing with "the legacy of crises you've bequeathed this country".
Kevin Brady, senior House Republican on the joint economic committee, told Mr Geithner: "Unemployment skyrocketed . . . The deficit is becoming frightening . . . We are reduced to begging China to buy our debt and getting lectures from other nations on our financial disarray. The public has lost all confidence in your ability to do the job."
Geithner said: "I agree with almost nothing in what you've said."
Duct tape and string
Geithner said: "The United States of America . . . came into this crisis without anything like the basic tools countries need to contain financial panics. Coming into AIG, we had basically duct tape and string."
