The buzz from the Inter-American Development Bank dinner on Monday night was that participants were disappointed U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said nothing.
Beyond thanking the IDB for having him at the dinner held at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Paulson had nothing substantial to say on the two issues of the moment. He neither mentioned the U.S. government's efforts to confront and contain the U.S. credit and subprime mortgage crisis nor the Bush administration's decision to force a showdown with the Democratic-controled Congress over the free-trade agreement with Colombia.
Participants who hoped Paulson would shed more light on the Bush administration's economic rescue efforts in private than he had at the inaugural session of the board of governments of the bank on Monday morning were disappointed. His talk lasted about two minutes.
Attending the dinner were development bank officials, finance ministers and central bank officials from Latin America and the Caribbean, local executives, Wall Street bankers and local politicians.
Paulson arrived in Miami after returning from a trip Wednesday and Thursday to China. He broke away from the U.S. subprime crisis to talk trade and investment relations with Chinese officials The second buzz was that the dinner -- salad for starters and steak and fish for the main course -- was excellent.
