Geithner: Congress won't risk debt ceiling crisis (by Steve Goldstein)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday said Congress will act to raise the debt ceiling because they realize the consequences for not doing so. "We're only two years from a cataclysmic financial crisis, and the huge damage to credibility and huge loss of confidence," he said before a Bertelsmann Foundation conference, referring to the 2008 tumble. "The idea that Washington would court that risk is inconceivable." Publicly and privately, Congressional Republicans have indicated they understand the implications of not raising the debt ceiling, Geithner said. Geithner added that markets have confidence that Congress will cut deficits. "The world basically believes that problems are manageable, and the system will solve it," he said.