Geithner: If Economy Is Bad, Blame The Rest of the World

WASHINGTON, April 15 (UPI) —
International developments will have a major influence on the ongoing recovery of the U.S. economy this year, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday.

Geithner said the overall global economy and the direction of oil prices will be the major influence on the slow but steady U.S. recovery.

Geithner said that while the U.S. job picture was showing some improvement, Europe remained wobbly and tensions over Iran’s nuclear program continued.

Oil markets, Geithner said, remained well supplied which was helping keep oil prices from getting out of hand and giving the economy some breathing room.

Geithner said he was not surprised at the public’s relative pessimism about the recovery given the slow pace of job creation and income growth. “But, if you look at broad measures of the basic resilience and dynamism of the economy, they’re pretty encouraging,” he said. “We have got to work to reinforce them.”