Paulson Reiterates Views of Other Wall Street Talking Heads

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson continued the recent PR blitz begun by Wall Street CEO's, claiming that as far as the credit crisis is concerned, "we're closer to the end than we are to the beginning." He hedged a bit by saying that even with "headwinds and despite some of the things that we're going through, this economy is still growing, albeit modestly." When asked about concerns over whether the economy will fall into recession, he said he didn't want to "enter into a technical debate" about the term. That is a very interesting response, and I have no idea what it means. Furthermore, Paulson claimed that he supports a strong US currency. "I'm a strong dollar man, we have a strong dollar policy." It's funny how our government officials think that stating that they support a strong dollar will somehow offset the policies they enact that continue to debase our currency. Maybe Paulson means that he is emotionally supportive of the dollar? Perhaps the dollar will actually strengthen if the Fed is serious about no longer easing to prop up the banking system during a period of increasing inflation. The market seems to believe this is the case as commodities are getting crushed and the stock market is rallying today. Maybe the general public is buying into the belief that the "worst is behind us." As an anecdotal example, here's a story in the Dallas local news about a guy who tried to cash a $360 billion check. This guy definitely thinks the credit crisis is over.