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Bush: Countries will work to avoid broader economic fallout
Oct 11, 2008, 13:31 GMT
US President George W. Bush speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 03 October 2008. The US House of Representatives voted to approve a revised version of Wall Street bail out legislation. EPA/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / POOL
Washington - US President George W Bush said Saturday that the world's economic powers will work closely together to overcome the financial crisis and create a plan toward recovery.
'We will stand together in addressing this threat to our prosperity,' Bush said. 'We will do what it takes to resolve this crisis, and the world's economy will emerge stronger as a result.'
Bush's comments came during a meeting in Washington of the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers from the world seven wealthiest democracies to address the economic crisis that prompted worries of a global recession.
'All of us recognize that this is a serious global crisis, and therefore, requires a serious global response for the good of our people,' Bush said. 'We resolve to continue our strong efforts to return our economies to the path of stability and long-term growth.'
The G7 continued its second day of meetings on Saturday to address the economic fallout caused by the crumbling financial markets that has tumbled stock exchanges worldwide. The economic powers were seeking combined steps to stave off further damage.
The meeting came as stocks around the world plunged at a record pace this week amid fears of a global recession.
Bush and the G7 officials announced no new specific policies, but the group suggested all seven governments were ready to throw public funds into banks that are threatened with collapse for a lack of capital.
Bush has already pushed through a 700-billion-dollar rescue package to bail out the financial sector, but the influx of money has yet to halt the slide on Wall Street or restore confidence in the credit market.
The G7 countries, which include Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States, promised on Friday to 'ensure that our banks ... can raise capital from public as well as private sources in sufficient amounts to re-establish confidence and permit them to continue lending to households and businesses.'
On the sidelines of the meeting, some G7 members said they were planning to take equity stakes in their banks as part of a broader rescue plan and injection of capital.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the US would buy shares in financial institutions in return for taking on their troubled mortgage assets, under authority already granted in Bush's rescue package approved by Congress last week.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said a similar plan for Germany would be unveiled on Monday. Britain passed its own bail-out package earlier this week.
Steinbrueck said the G7 had adopted a 'far-reaching' action plan that included a promise to protect all banks of 'systemic relevance' to the global financial sector.
The G7 statement was a sign of the group's reluctance to offer a common, cross-border solution to shore up banks on the brink of bankruptcy in their own countries.
Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti complained the statement was 'too weak' shortly before it was adopted, according to Bloomberg News.
But Paulson defended the lack of specifics coming out of the G7 meeting and said no one had any reason to expect a one-size-fits all solution.
'Some in the markets are naive if they think that different countries with different financial systems, economies in different stages of development, economies with totally different structures ... and different political systems, different laws are going to come up with precisely the same policy to deal with the issues,' he said.
He called the statement an 'aggressive action plan to address the turmoil in global financial markets and the stresses on our financial institutions.'
The G7 bloc also promised 'robust' guarantees for the savings deposits of consumers, but did not specify a level. A number of countries have raised guarantees to ease people's fears over the safety of their bank savings. Some in Europe such as Ireland have extended full guarantees, prompting a few concerns over competition.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned Friday that the only way to restore market confidence was through 'government intervention which is clear, comprehensive and cooperative among countries.'
The G7 meeting came at a time when there have been suggestions that the bloc is an outdated tool to manage a crisis that has spread well beyond the United States and Europe. A group of 24 countries also meeting Friday urged wealthier nations to include them in talks on resolving the financial turmoil.
Paulson will meet finance ministers from the Group of 20 - which brings together the top advanced and emerging economies - on Saturday, in a nod to the spreading nature of the crisis.
Strauss-Kahn on Thursday said the world was on the 'cusp' of a recession after the IMF forecast global growth of 3 per cent next year. Growth below 3 per cent is considered a global recession by the IMF.
The IMF and World Bank also hold their annual meetings this weekend.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
......The archtitect of his own downfall, words from a man who once claimed dirct communiction from God himself.................
,,,
rest Bush. If you are really really concerned about he economy of the USA, and you want to do your part, say nothing; do nothing. Pretend you are brain dead.
Bush is trying to preserve something that never existed: FAKE EQUITY. The equity markets have been overvalued for years and fudged with debt spending. The fact is, Bush knows NOTHING about valuation or economics. To him, god created the universe 6000 years ago and jesus is the all powerful. Nothing is fact and there is no rational basis for everything. Everything is rote and the only good book is the bible. Economic books don't count. With a frame of mind like that it is no wonder things got so out of hand.
IMF, World Bank, and G7 can start packing up and closing their doors, cause the entire world doesn't give one ounce of monkey crap what they have to say or what they plan to do.
One only has to look at Iceland's recent action when bankruptcy came knocking on its door. It went to Russia for a low interest loan with no strings attached. Iceland did not go to let say....US or UK or IMF or World Bank, did it now?
Another example: look at Venezuela's recent joint funds with other countries; namely, China. A joint fund of....$....12 billion dollars. Who needs that ridiculous IMF or so-called World Bank?
Also, that G8 became G7 after Russia gave them that 'you can't fire me, cause I quit!' line.
MY suggestion: G7, IMF, and World Bank need to close down for business. Cause....business will no longer come their way!
Besides, these organizations are the tools of colonialism and imperialism by the western European countries and the US.
IMF, World Bank, and G7 can start packing up and closing their doors, cause the entire world doesn't give one ounce of monkey crap what they have to say or what they plan to do.
One only has to look at Iceland's recent action when bankruptcy came knocking on its door. It went to Russia for a low interest loan with no strings attached. Iceland did not go to let say....US or UK or IMF or World Bank, did it now?
Another example: look at Venezuela's recent joint funds with other countries; namely, China. A joint fund of....$....12 billion dollars. Who needs that ridiculous IMF or so-called World Bank?
Also, that G8 became G7 after Russia gave them that 'you can't fire me, cause I quit!' line.
MY suggestion: G7, IMF, and World Bank need to close down for business. Cause....business will no longer come their way!
Besides, these organizations are the tools of colonialism and imperialism by the western European countries and the US.
IMF, World Bank, and G7 can start packing up and closing their doors, cause the entire world doesn't give one ounce of monkey crap what they have to say or what they plan to do.
One only has to look at Iceland's recent action when bankruptcy came knocking on its door. It went to Russia for a low interest loan with no strings attached. Iceland did not go to let say....US or UK or IMF or World Bank, did it now?
Another example: look at Venezuela's recent joint funds with other countries; namely, China. A joint fund of....$....12 billion dollars. Who needs that ridiculous IMF or so-called World Bank?
Also, that G8 became G7 after Russia gave them that 'you can't fire me, cause I quit!' line.
MY suggestion: G7, IMF, and World Bank need to close down for business. Cause....business will no longer come their way!
Besides, these organizations are the tools of colonialism and imperialism by the western European countries and the US.
IMF, World Bank, and G7 can start packing up and closing their doors, cause the entire world doesn't give one ounce of monkey crap what they have to say or what they plan to do.
One only has to look at Iceland's recent action when bankruptcy came knocking on its door. It went to Russia for a low interest loan with no strings attached. Iceland did not go to let say....US or UK or IMF or World Bank, did it now?
Another example: look at Venezuela's recent joint funds with other countries; namely, China. A joint fund of....$....12 billion dollars. Who needs that ridiculous IMF or so-called World Bank?
Also, that G8 became G7 after Russia gave them that 'you can't fire me, cause I quit!' line.
MY suggestion: G7, IMF, and World Bank need to close down for business. Cause....business will no longer come their way!
Besides, these organizations are the tools of colonialism and imperialism by the western European countries and the US.
It is time to ponder on some questions now regarding the nature of governemnts.You ll find the answers to the questions will need you to think outside the usual patterns but traditional thinking simply yields no answers.
Why has a 700 billion dollar plan been launched in a matter of days but has nothing been done in all these years when hundreds of thousands of workers lost their livelihood and jobs due to delocalization of manufacturing jobs .The answer then was that such were the unavoidable consequences of modern economical needs to rationalize the production process (read the maximalization of profit by moving the plants to countries where labor could be exploited much more cheaply and there would be no annoying labor unions to defend the workers rights ).The governments also teold you that unfortunately they could not intervene in the economy as the market would regulate itself and in a few years all would be well again .And of course you've been told that there was no money anyway .there is a war going on and you all have to contribute to the war efforts (except Wall Street of course and the corporate war profiteers.)Patriotism was taken out of the closet ,dusted off and the donned by americans whilst the media beat the war drums .Communism was dead but lo and behold ,a new ennemy was found,just in time to avoid the weapon merchants from losing their fat profits.Terrorism was the new menace .A vague notion that became the object of military spending like never seen before .Terrorism needs polica action logically,not so in the USA.A 100.000 dollars assault would be met with an 1.000.000.000 reply (I am now talking of the anthrax letters ).A real terrorist assault perpetrated by Al Quaida was met with a full scale war against a country that had nothing to do with it.After which you could only say,sorry guys we'll rebuild it all,we have a vice president with good connections to Haliburton.Hundreds of billions od dollars got lost in the process.Bin Laden must be laughing after seeing the result of his attack.the consequences of it must have been way beyond his wildest expectations .On top of that blinded by irrational patriotism those that dared oppose the attack on the wrong enemy were labeled traitors and bad patriots.
After this mess there are still people doing so,likely the same people that make enormous profits from tis war .
How long will you be fooled ?
There are still irresponsible politicians still claiming that it is a crime to raise taxes .Fine then,what would be their solution to the crisis?I'd love to hear the magic they will perform to pay of a debt that grew so enormous that it became a surrealistic figure,almost too absurd to exist.
If no taxes need to be raised,how then will you solve this problem.Please clarify that for me,I'd love to use this magic too.
Unfortunately we all never will get an answer to that .You allhave been lured into thinking that the marker is magic,that government interference is satanic .And indeed not much sane is going on in solving this mess.Except throwing money at the bankers nobody comes forward with even a bribe of a solution.
After the elections are over ,the answer will come;taxes will have to be raised.The only question remainig is which ones of you will carry the burden ?
page: 1
Jesus.H.ChristOct 11th, 2008 - 14:27:29
The best thing that this lame dead-duck president coulld honour this World with is ,his
SILENCE.
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