U.S. supports boosting IMF firepower: Geithner (by Greg Robb)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. is very supportive of the move by Europe and other countries to boost the firepower of the International Monetary Fund to help alleviate any spillover from the European crisis, said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday, although the U.S. has made it clear that it does not plan to contribute to the fund. The move to bolster IMF resources is "good" because it "will prove to the world that there is a substantial capacity that can....help cushion if necessary the effects of any European trauma on the rest of the world," Geithner said during an appearance at The Brookings Institution. Geithner said it would be a mistake to suggest that the U.S. is "holding back" from Europe. The U.S., through the Federal Reserve, has provided unlimited access to dollar swap lines to Europe, Geithner said. "We have been central to the broad effort by the world to help reinforce what Europe is doing. Those swap lines have played a very important role in dampening and cushioning the effects of Europe's crisis on the rest of the world," he said.