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WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Sunday said the U.S. wasn't in danger of losing its triple-A bond rating, in the wake of a warning from Moody's Investors Services about U.S. treasury-bond rating.
"Absolutely not," Mr. Geithner said in an interview with ABC News's "This Week" when asked about the prospect of the U.S. losing its top rating. "That will never happen to this country."
Bond rating agency Moody's on Wednesday warned that the triple-A rating of U.S. treasury bonds could be in peril unless the U.S. reduces its federal budget deficit or the economy rebounds.
Mr. Geithner noted that when investors were nervous about a global financial crisis, they sought safety in U.S. Treasury securities and the U.S. dollar. "That is a very, very important sign of basic confidence in our capacity as a country to work together to fix these problems," he said.
He said the Obama administration was "deeply serious" about deficit reduction. Mr. Geithner has endorsed the creation of a bipartisan commission
that would be charged with recommending ways to reduce the federal deficit over the long haul.
The Treasury secretary sounded an upbeat note on the U.S. economic outlook, saying "we're seeing some encouraging signs of healing," with the economy expanding at an annualized rate of nearly 6% and the jobless rate falling modestly in the most-recent unemployment report.
The economic recovery "is going to take awhile and it's going to be uneven," Mr. Geithner said. While the risks of a double-dip recession are much lower than they have been, he said, "we have more work to do" to spur job creation.
He disputed remarks by newly elected Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.), that the economic stimulus package enacted by Congress last year has failed to create jobs. "I don't think there's any basis for that judgment," Mr. Geithner said. He said the stimulus measures have been "very, very effective," and pointed to improvement in the overall economy.
"We have an economy now that's growing again," he said. "With growth, you're going to see jobs created."
Regarding prospects for an overhaul of the financial regulatory system, Mr. Geithner said President Barack Obama was committed to ensuring that Congress enacts tough measures recommended by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker to reduce risk-taking by the nation's largest banks. "I am very confident we're going to be able to do that," Mr. Geithner said.
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