The representatives of the agricultural States in the country showed little flexibility

Henry "Hank" Paulson, US Treasury Secretary, said yesterday, in his first public speech since his confirmation to his post last month, that "a strong dollar was in the interest of the United States." But by adding that "the value of the US currency should be fixed by an open and competitive market based on the fundamentals of the economy" and not by public intervention, thus registering in the right line of his predecessors. Speaking to students of the Columbia Business School, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs Business Bank, who has "chose New York for his first speech since this city is unquestionably the financial capital of the world", has also set its priorities as Secretary of the Treasury.

Believing in an interview with the string just before given NBCC his speech at Columbia that the economy American was "absolutely not" on the brink of a recession but "in transition to a more sustainable rate", despite a growth of 2.5 below the average of the last years of the GDP in the second quarter 2006 , thus Hank Paulson first recalled the need to reform social programs. The American retirement system ("social security"), ("Medicare") retirees health coverage and assistance to the most poor ("Medicaid") cost 17 of GDP in 2060, compared to 8 today. If, according to Hank Paulson, the budget deficit is short-term income in the average of the past 40 years with tax revenues generated by growth, these programs "may affect our competitiveness" in the long term.

Energy security

Experts believe many thousands of billions of dollars the impasse in the funding for these programs, including Medicare. While the "social security" reform attempts have failed since the re-election of Bush last November, the Secretary of the Treasury will however be difficult to restart the legislative process, particularly because the 2008 elections will be quickly in the minds of elected officials.

After referring to the problem of energy security of the country, insisting on the need to encourage research into alternative energies, but without the word of warming climate while the administration refuses to set limits on emissions of greenhouse gases , Hank Paulson then engaged in a plea for free trade. Some US experts hope that the Secretary of the Treasury could use the respect that he inspired today leaders circles for reviving the Doha round of World Trade Organization discussions intended to liberalize international trade. "We will continue to seek a way to advance comprehensive negotiations", he said, pointing out that the United States would also continue to pursue regional and bilateral agreements. Here again, the Secretary of the Treasury, who regrets the anti - "open markets" rhetoric he intends in the United States, will be hard to election. The representatives of the agricultural States in the country showed little flexibility.

Finally, signs that the Republican party is not to be outdone in the debate on the widening of inequalities that monte in the United States, Hank Paulson has placed this issue among its priorities, while defending the first term of President Bush's tax cuts.