A weekend meeting of global finance ministers was sponsored by the International Monetary Fund to deal with the growing currency imbalances in world economies. The two big players -- the U.S. and China -- instead of reaching a consensus, ended farther apart with each side digging in and pushing back against the other.

Zhou Xiaochuan, China's central bank governor told the Financial Times: "The continuation of relatively low interest rates and unconventional monetary policies by major reserve currency issuers have created stark challenges for emerging market countries in the conduct of monetary policy."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner really stepped out on a limb this morning on Good Morning America. He told George Stephanopoulos that the unemployment rate may go up temporarily (defined as a "couple of months") before it comes down.

I am glad to see that he is applying the old "what goes up must come down" rule we learned in elementary school to our current economic situation. Geithner said that when people are entering the work force "see a little hope that there may be jobs out there, they start to come back in again. And that can cause the measured unemployment rate to go up -- temporarily." Geithner admitted that we are still in a "tough economy," but stated expectations for "an economy that's gradually healing, gradually strengthening, businesses starting to add people back."

A key public official in the world's largest economy has turned-up-the-heat a notch regarding China's fixed-rate yuan currency.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in prepared Capitol Hill testimony Thursday, said China's exchange-rate policy is preventing more-balanced global economic growth.

"The distortions caused by China's exchange rate spread far beyond China's borders and are an impediment to the global re-balancing we need," Geithner said. Allowing the yuan to float more-freely would enable China to pursue "a more effective, independent monetary policy, which is particularly important now, with China's economy facing a risk of inflation in goods and in asset prices."

In an about face, G20 finance ministers dropped their support for fiscal stimulus. The communique from Saturday's meeting in South Korea stated: "The recent events highlight of sustainable public finances and the need for our countries to put in place credible growth friendly measures to deliver sustainability."

Back in April the G20 group was hep on continuing their stimulus programs. Their statement then called for fiscal support to "be maintained until the recovery is firmly driven by the private sector and becomes more entrenched."

Under the radar: Some trends are obvious enough and visible to all investors. Others are more-subtle, but are just as potent, and these often slip 'under the radar.'

Case in point: U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may have telegraphed that conditions on the job creation front are improving, including a possible large gain in jobs in April. "You're starting to see the first signs of what we think will be a sustained period of job growth by private companies," Geithner said in an interview Monday on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" program.

I wish it were some kind of cruel April Fool's joke, but I watched the interview with my own eyes and heard Geithner tell Matt Lauer that the unemployment rate is going to stay high for "a long period of time." Of course, this high rate of unemployment will remain even if the government focused on cutting the country's budget deficit.

Geithner told NBC that "We're just at the point now where the economy's likely to start creating jobs on net. That means incomes are going to grow, businesses are going to invest more going forward. And we'll come out of this." Geithner added that "Right now we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can get to get this economy growing again, and creating jobs."

The New York Post reports that Geithner is "on the outs" with Obama. After examining a recently taken AP photograph, the paper noted: "Judging from Treasure Secretary Tim Geithner's position (third to the left of Obama), he looks to be on the outs after reportedly bumping heads with the president over his plan to fix Wall Street."

An indication of just how rampant the speculation about Tim Geithner's fate as Treasury Secretary has gotten, his standing to the left of Paul Volcker and Barney Frank during a press conference is now cause for concern about his fate. The Post helpfully notes that "Customarily, Geithner has been at Obama's side whenever the president discussed topics related to Wall Street."

Rising office vacancies and plant use rates are close to a record low. Under these conditions it is easy to see why there is little new construction. Maxwell Clarke of IDEAglobal Inc, said: "Construction isn't going to be adding a lot of growth, at least through the next quarter or so. November's construction numbers are down 13% from a year earlier."

Add to this the fact that the commercial default rate on mortgages held by US banks doubled to 3.4% in the third quarter. Defaults in the first nine months of 2009 are the highest since 1993.

Is this the first time you've heard about the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission? Probably. It seems that Treasury Secretary Geithner organized the commission to investigate what went wrong during the financial crisis of 2008! That's right 2008! Can you imagine -- the public has been clamoring for answers as to what happened during the meltdown, and now a year later they decided to open an investigation.

The Commission was created by Congress to examine the causes of the collapse that roiled global markets and led to a $700 billion U.S. bailout of the nation's banks.

'Tis the season to be greedy! Fannie Mae (FNM) CEO, Michael Williams, and Freddie Mac (FRE) CEO, Charles Halderman, will each receive $6 million in total compensation for 2009!

How would you like to work for a company that will guarantee every single loss you have. The U.S. Treasury said that they would absorb all losses for Fannie and Freddie for the next three years, if necessary.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said he's expecting net, monthly U.S. job growth to resume by spring.

"Most economists would say that, by the spring, we'll have positive job growth," Geithner said in an interview Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," while adding that it's unlikely there was any job growth in December.

Geithner also emphasized that the U.S. economy is "growing, it's getter better, getting stronger," while underscoring that the big variable in the expansion concerns when the U.S. economy starts adding jobs again.

U.S. Treasury Secretary, Geithner, was severely critical of excessive bank bonuses. In a recent interview he said, "We want to see fundamental constraints on how senior executives are paid at these institutions."

Geithner has been under fire for his actions during the bank bailouts of last year. He defended himself by saying: "The entire U.S. financial system and all the major firms in the country, and even small banks across the country, were at that moment at the middle of a classic run, a classic bank run."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Singapore Thursday, told Bloomberg News he sees "early signs" that the world is addressing imbalances in spending and saving that contributed to the global financial crisis. That's likely to be interpreted as a bullish sign by institutional investors.

Equally important, meeting attendees, which include finance ministers from China, Japan, and Australia, also reiterated a pledge to maintain stimulus efforts "until a durable recovery in private demand is secured."

US Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, is known for his straightforward and unbiased positions.

His new legislative proposal is to break up big banks that are deemed "too big to fail." To quote Mr. Sanders: "if an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We should break them up so they are no longer in a position to bring down our entire economy."

The housing bubble and subsequent "Great Recession" have tarnished the stars of a good many of the world's financial wizards, such as the former heads at Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch. But one respected image remains -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- on top: Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A).

That's according to a recent quarterly poll of investors, traders, and analysts who subscribe to Bloomberg terminals, those somewhat cryptic news and data computers that are ubiquitous on Wall Street. Buffett, who received favorable nods from 25% of those participating in the poll, walked away with a plurality of the vote, Bloomberg News reported.