Geithner: US not lecturing Europe on debt
By Associated Press
Sep 16, 2011 5:30 AM CDT
In this Sept. 2, 2011 photo Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen comments on the national budget negotiations in Helsinki, Finland. Finland's finance minister is saying she doesn't see the Friday Sept. 16, 2011 meeting of eurozone finance ministers finding a solution to the dispute over her country's...   (Associated Press)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has told eurozone finance officials the U.S. is not trying to lecture them on their debt crisis.

Geithner said that "we still have our challenges in the United States" and that "our politics are terrible... maybe worse than they are in many parts of Europe."

The U.S. finance chief said that given the challenges the U.S. faces, "we're not in a particularly strong position to provide advice to all of you."

He's attending his first-ever eurozone meeting as officials try to find ways to keep Europe's debt crisis from hurting the broader economy.