Neither side has come through this economic crisis with flying colors, but it's interesting to see such strong rejection of Geithner by the EU members. Europe needs to look at what they did to kick this problem down the road since many of their banks were much more highly leveraged than even the gamblers of Wall Street. That said, the US model of rescuing the banks that was built by Bush/Paulson with the help of Geithner certainly hasn't done much to help besides lining the pockets of the bankers.
The EU has had a few years to watch the US and see how the bank bailout worked and they would have to be fools to think it was a successful long term plan. We saw the bankers make few changes to their casino-style ways and all they did was use the bailout money to gamble even more without doing anything to benefit the rest of society.
In this continuation of the banking crisis, there are no easy answers, but most should at least acknowledge that the US model doesn't deserve to be promoted as a viable solution. NY Times:
“I found it peculiar that, even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the euro zone, that they tell us what we should do,” Maria Fekter, the finance minister of Austria, said after the meeting Friday morning. “I had expected that, when he tells us how he sees the world, that he would listen to what we have to say.”
Such criticism was echoed by other attendees of the meeting, including the finance minister of Belgium, Didier Reynders, who said Mr. Geithner should listen rather than talk. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the finance minister group, said European officials did not care to have detailed discussions about expanding their bailout fund “with a nonmember of the euro area.”
American officials are aware that they need to tread carefully when advising others, especially now, and they have avoided offering specific plans or proposals.
