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US Treasury's Paulson Comments
WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he remains in favor of a strong US dollar. 'I'm very much for a strong dollar,' he said on an interview on CNBC. He later added that a strong dollar is 'in the nation's interest.' [B]Regarding China[/B]-'we need China's economy to grow and be stable'. The US should not look at China's growth as a threat, he argued, rather 'the biggest problem would be for an economy as large and important as China' to become weak unstable. [B]Economy-[/B]he believes the US is making a transition to a more sustainable, balanced economy in comparison to the last few years when rising home prices was a primary economic driver. Paulson said reliance on the housing boom lead to an 'unsustainable' economy, but said the US is now transitioning to a healthier position. 'That's the lens I use when I look at the market adjustments,' he said in an interview on CNBC. He also called the readjustment a 'wake up call.' Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Edward Lazear agreed, and said the good news within today's report that GDP grew 3.4 pct in the second quarter is that this growth is balanced. He said consumer spending rose less than expected, but growth was sustained by rising US exports. [B]Financial Markets-[/B]'What we're seeing is risk being repriced and a different perspective on risk, which I think is healthy,' Paulson said in a television interview. Appearing on CNBC with other members of the Bush administration economic team, he again said mortgage industry problems would be 'largely contained.' Paulson said he did not mean to treat them lightly, however, adding that 'this is something that will take a while to make its way through the economy.' Given the wake-up call, 'there is probably less risk today, than there was a couple of months ago,' he said, 'but it is more apparent.' [SIZE=1][COLOR=silver][email][email protected][/email] pik/wash/ajb COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. [/COLOR][/SIZE]