Tim Geithner, in his third third annual pilgrimage to Europe, the first two of which concluded with one after another more discredited stress tests (because in Mark-To-Unicorn America they worked sooooo well), has a slightly different message to the locals on how to run their failed monetary union. From Reuters: "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is likely to urge euro zone finance ministers on Friday to speed up ratification of changes to their bailout fund and consider boosting its size, an EU source said on Tuesday. The official said Washington was worried that the euro zone was not acting fast enough to enhance the EFSF fund and that the stability of the global financial system was at stake. He is likely to tell the ministers that they should consider increasing the size of the EFSF to equip it better for the needs of potential bank recapitalization. "He will probably tell Germany to give up its resistance to an increase in the size of the EFSF," the source said. A well connected fund source told Reuters Geithner had been pushing for a solution for European banks along the lines of the TARP program in the United States, but had not made much headway." Translation: Germany has to immediately throw billions more of taxpayer money into the insolvent bank pit (just like America did), or else Tiny Tim will get angry. Well, if Germany's ruling class was against pledging over 100% of its GDP to bailout Greece and the other insolvents, it will surely be persuaded to commit political suicide after the last man standing from Obama's administration, who still inexplicably has not been fired for gross incompetence (and also prosecuted for tax evasion), has his say. And just as the short selling ban lasted all of one week before Europe's banks tumbled, even a favorable uptake of the idiot's proposals will at best lead to a 24 hour spike in prices followed by what will likely be the terminal tumble into the abyss of failed Keynesian-Bernankian experimentation.

From Reuters:

The new EFSF powers will only kick in once ratified by euro zone countries. In some, like Germany, Finland, the Netherlands or Slovakia, public opposition to bailouts is making parliaments reluctant to commit more money and power to the fund. "He would point out to countries like Finland, the Netherlands or Slovakia how important it is to overcome their domestic obstacles for the sake of the rest of the world," the official said. "Also, he would tap the Greek finance minister on the shoulder to make him recognize the responsibility of Greece," the official said, amid growing irritation with Athens among international lenders for its repeated failure to fully implement agreed reforms and austerity measures. The ministers will also discuss ways to sustain growth as the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and high oil prices sap global economic progress. The official said that at the latest G7 meeting of finance ministers in Marseille, Geithner put pressure on the Europeans to use their fiscal room for maneuver, especially Germany, when it came to helping the economy.

Luckily, Germany doesn't mince its words when dealing with massive idiocy:

Berlin pushed back, sources at the meeting said. "The demand would not be new stimulus packages but less restrictive budgetary tightening or cut deficits only over a longer time period than foreseen so far," the official said

Sorry Tim: now that nobody, not just Chinese students, takes you seriously your time has officially run out. Please resign while you still have the opportunity to do so on your terms.