New Issue of The Commonwealth Magazine

The February/March 2011 issue of The Commonwealth magazine has been published and is appearing in members' mailboxes this week. Commonwealth Club members receive the magazine as a benefit of membership; they also get access to the digital edition of the magazine (via the weekly Club e-mail newsletter).

Here's a preview of this issue:

Cover story: U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: "The Recovery, Part II"
Author James Ellroy: "L.A. Story"
Arianna Huffington: "Middle-Class Dilemma"
AEI President Arthur Brooks: "Earned Success and Happiness"
Reza Aslan and a panel of Muslim artists: "Cultural Exchange"
CDC Director Thomas Frieden: "The Economic Imperative of Preventive Measures"
Historian Simon Winchester: "Tales of the Sea"
U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra: "High-Tech Health Care"
Plus: Dr. Gloria C. Duffy on why "Wikileaker Is No Hero," an interview with Kiva.org President Premal Shah, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter on national mental health care policy, the Club's annual report, complete Club event listings, and more.

Timothy Geithner on Recession, Recovery -- ABC7 News Video

Photo Slideshow: Timothy Geithner at Commonwealth Club 10-18-2010

Below are photos, by John Zipperer and William F. Adams, from the program in Silicon Valley yesterday featuring U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner. The program was moderated by Sequoia Capital's Michael Moritz.

Timothy Geithner Addresses the Top "Five Myths About TARP"

U.S.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner took to The Washington Post opinion pages this past Sunday to address what he calls five myths about the Troubled Assets Relief Program, known by its acronym TARP.

TARP has become broadly unpopular in the country, but Geithner and other Obama administration leaders have been working lately to get out the news that TARP will ultimately result in a much smaller cost to taxpayers than is popularly believed:

[T]he cost of the TARP, which succeeded in reducing the overall economic damage, will be considerably lower than once feared. In fact, the direct budget cost of the program and our full investment in the insurer AIG is likely to come in well under $50 billion -- $300 billion less than estimated by the Congressional Budget Office last year. And taxpayers are likely to receive an impressive return (totaling tens of billions) on the investments made under the TARP outside the housing market.

Even looking beyond the TARP to the losses associated with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's pre-crisis mistakes, the direct costs of the government's overall rescue strategy are likely to be less than 1 percent of GDP. By comparison, the much less severe savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s cost 2 1/2 times that as a share of our economy.

In the article, Geithner addresses other concerns of critiques, such as that TARP helped Wall Street and not Main Street, that it led to greater presidential control over the economy, and other claims.

Read his entire article here.

Bring your own questions for the Treasury secretary when you see Timothy Geithner live at The Commonwealth Club of California this Monday, October 18, in Palo Alto for a 1:00 p.m. program. Details and ticket information are now available.