“Timothy Geithner” on The Daily Caller

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner boldly predicted that Congress will vote to raise the debt ceiling next month, warning that failure to do so would bring “catastrophic” consequences for the U.S. and global economies. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans said Wednesday that a new government agency designed to protect consumers from problems with mortgages, credit cards and other lenders has too much power. They also criticized it for participating in a federal-state effort to force mortgage servicers to change the way they foreclose on troubled homeowners. (more)

Social Security reform is splitting President Obama’s economic and political advisers. (more)

Under current projections, the U.S. Treasury will hit its statutory debt ceiling before summer. This provides the chance for newly elected Tea Party-backed legislators to show they are serious about rolling back Obama’s agenda. The only method to force politicians to make tough budget cuts is to take away the credit card. Congress should refuse to raise the Treasury’s debt ceiling. (more)

Republican Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Dan Burton of Indiana are asking House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican, to dig into the Obama administration’s decision to cut more than 20,000 private-sector workers’ pensions and eliminate their health and life insurance plans during the General Motors (GM) bailout in 2009. (more)

A beleaguered business deal in Taiwan has some financial analysts wondering whether bailed-out insurance giant American International Group (AIG) even cares about paying back the $20 billion it owes taxpayers. (more)

Confidential diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Hong Kong lay bare China’s growing influence as America’s largest creditor. (more)

1.) Obama’s jobs team gets green-washed — “President Barack Obama will name Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric Co.’s chief executive officer, to head his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,” reports Bloomberg News. “Immelt has sounded many of the administration’s themes: boosting jobs through U.S. exports, ensuring companies can compete with powers like China and India, and jumpstarting a clean-energy economy. Immelt wrote today that he and Obama ‘are committed’ to making the U.S. ‘the most competitive and innovating economy in the world.’” According to Bloomberg, “Immelt is among a group of executives — Boeing Co. CEO Jim McNerney; Motorola Solutions Inc. CEO Greg Brown, and Honeywell International Inc. Chairman David Cote — who have voiced support for Obama policies. The four serve on several of the president’s outside advisory boards”–and all four have made a killing on green jobs subsidies (more)

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s warning that refusing to increase the debt ceiling would plunge the nation into fiscal catastrophe is unfounded, at least according to some congressional Republicans. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House’s major investigative committee will explore financial bailouts and the foreclosure crisis on Jan. 26, in the panel’s initial hearing this year. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare concession on a highly sensitive issue, Chinese President Hu Jintao used his White House visit on Wednesday to acknowledge “a lot still needs to be done” to improve human rights in his nation accused of repressing its people. President Barack Obama pushed China to adopt fundamental freedoms but assured Hu the U.S. considers the communist nation a friend and vital economic partner. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012, says he opposes raising the nation’s debt ceiling and is urging Republicans in Congress to do the same. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — His presidency tied to the fate of the U.S. economy, Barack Obama is revamping his economic policy team and signaling cooperation to ascendant Republicans and the business community at a pivotal moment in the nation’s recovery and Washington politics. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama meets with labor leaders at the White House on Friday. (more)

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a congressional oversight panel this morning that the cost of the federal financial rescue program will ultimately be only a “fraction” of the cost originally estimated by the Congressional Budget Office. (more)

There’s something funny with the newest batch of American money – and it may pose problems for the Massachusetts-based company that provides the paper for all U.S. currency. (more)

Senate lawmakers expect a bipartisan group of negotiators to announce a deal in the coming days that would extend the Bush tax cuts for two years and federal unemployment benefits for up to a year. (more)

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that there is no deal imminent with Republicans on which tax cuts from the Bush administration era, calling reports of an agreement “inaccurate and premature.” (more)

The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday to permanently extend the Bush-era tax cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 and married couples earning less than $250,000 annually, but Republicans have vowed to keep any tax extension measure off the president’s desk that does not include tax cuts for all income brackets. (more)

Rep. Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin, the top House Republican on budget matters, peeled the curtain back a little on GOP relations with the Obama White House Thursday. (more)