Posted by Tina
European leaders are looking at the economy and have made some observations. The conclusion about today’s crisis is fairly accurate and right on…that’s good news. It always helps to identify a problem. The proposed solution is…well…not so good. Bad news quickly devolves into downright ugly news! Read on brave Americans…
Sarkozy, Merkel, Blair call for new capitalism, by Emma Vandor and Greg Keller, AP Business Writers
The good:
** Speaking at a conference in Paris on the future of capitalism, German Chancellor Angela Merkel singled out the American budget deficit and China’s current account surplus the difference between exports and imports as problems upsetting the global economy *** “We would be making an error if we were content to look solely at financial markets,” she said. **
** She deplored huge debts that governments are accumulating to spend their way out of the present crisis. But she said she recognized, for the moment, that “there is no other possibility.” *** French President Nicolas Sarkozy…blamed financial speculators for encouraging a system fueled on debt. He called financial capitalism based on speculation “an immoral system” that has “perverted the logic of capitalism.” *** “It’s a system where wealth goes to the wealthy, where work is devalued, where production is devalued, where entrepreneurial spirit is devalued,” he said. *** Blair called for a new financial order based on “values other than the maximum short-term profit.” *** “The greatest entrepreneur I had the chance to meet was passionate about what he had created, not what he had accumulated,” he said. **
The bad:
** “In capitalism of the 21st century, there is room for the state,” he said. *** Governments around the world have had to step in to rescue credit-starved banks and financial institutions from collapse. They are also pumping billions of euros into their economies to encourage growth. *** Measures will be taken by global leaders meeting in London on April 2, Sarkozy promised, urging the U.S. to join the international consensus. **
Leading to the truly UGLY:
** Merkel said the International Monetary Fund has not managed to regulate global capitalism, and she called for the creation of an economy body at the United Nations, similar to the Security Council, to judge government policy.