Paulson: We're Doing the Right Thing

Bush administration 'creatively working' on financial crisis
By Sarah Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2008 9:00 PM CST
Paulson: We're Doing the Right Thing
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, second from left, is joined by former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. At left is Robert Thomson, editor in chief of Dow Jones & Company.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

On the eve of his testimony before Congress, beleaguered Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used last night's speech to defend the administration's response to the nation's "unprecedented" financial crisis. Paulson said without the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, things would be even worse, ABC News reports. "It's hard to get credit for what didn't happen," he said.

Paulson's top priority is keeping banks and capital markets strong, he said. He's against another stimulus package and federal moves to protect homeowners from foreclosure, and thinks loaning US carmakers a bundle of cash would be a "huge mistake"—the industry needs to reform itself, he said. Paulson made the same arguments in a New York Times op-ed today.
(More economy stories.)

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