Whats a Treasury Secretary to Do?
An Agenda for Henry Paulson, Here and Abroad by C. Fred Bergsten, Peterson Institute for International Economics Op-ed in The Washington Post June 26, 2006 © The Washington Post One issue that Henry Paulson will be unable to avoid as secretary of the Treasury is the precarious international financial position of the United States. Two of his most famous predecessors, John Connally in 1971 and James Baker in 1985, faced very similar situations when they assumed office midway through the terms of their Republican presidents. Both launched dramatic initiatives that resolved the problems and became their signature accomplishments. The central strategic question facing Paulson is whether he will likewise seize control and take effective preemptive action or will instead try to skate through without policy changes and thus run an enormous risk of severely jeopardizing the US and world economies. The United States has to attract about $8 billion of foreign capital every working day to finance