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Although he says he's staying put, Republicans insist that it's time for Geithner to go

Natalie Gonnella
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Amid a growing list of economic failures and repeated calls for his resignation, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today assured America he's staying put (lucky us):

Secretary Geithner has let the president know that he plans to stay on in his position at Treasury.

With discontent surging on both sides of the political spectrum, here's a quick look at the latest calls from Republicans for Geithner's timely Treasury departure:

Senator Rand Paul:

Secretary Geithner assured everyone that raising the debt ceiling without a plan to balance the budget would not result in a downgrade to our debt...He was clearly wrong. Our debt has been downgraded for the first time in history, and now American taxpayers will have to suffer the consequences.

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn:

The Obama Administration must get on board with Republican efforts to cut up the credit cards and put our economy back on the path to prosperity.  The first step necessary in this process is for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to resign immediately.  It's time for new fiscal leadership in Washington.  Americans have had enough of the same old bad ideas that got us into this situation in the first place.

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann:

We were warned by all the credit agencies that a failure to deal with the debt would lead to this downgrade in our credit rating,” she said. “But instead, the president submitted a budget that had a $1.5 trillion deficit, the he request a $2.4 trillion blank check on top of that. President Obama is destroying the foundations of our economy, one beam at a time. I call on the president to seek the immediate resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and submit a plan that balances the budget in year. Turn the economy around and put our people back to work.

Senator Jim DeMint:

The president should demand that Secretary Geithner resign and immediately replace him with someone who will help Washington focus on balancing our budget and allowing the private sector to create jobs," DeMint said in a report Saturday in The Hill...For months he opposed all efforts to reduce the debt in return for a debt ceiling increase. His opposition to serious spending and debt reforms has been reckless and now the American people will pay the price,

Yesterday Washington, today the world: Bernanke goes on the offensive in Germany to defend QE2

Ryan Streeter

Ben Bernanke met with lawmakers yesterday to defend the Fed's recent $600 billion decision, and today he gave a speech in Germany to do the same before a global audience. 

Catherine Rampell at the Economix blog offers a nice summary. As she says, Bernanke points the finger back at Congress, charging lawmakers with needing to do more to spur growth. Bernanke said:

A fiscal program that combines near-term measures to enhance growth with strong, confidence-inducing steps to reduce longer-term structural deficits would be an important complement to the policies of the Federal Reserve.

While this sounds like standard Fed-speak, as Rampell notes, it's a bit more political than a Fed chairman would normally be. And Bernanke has a point. Congress DOES need to get its act together on this front. 

However, pointing the finger in this regard is a separate issue from the merits of the Fed's decision overall, which understandably has people up in arms.