Saturday, October 18, 2008

Fundamental differences imperil Bush global summit

If U.S. President George W. Bush expects next month's international summit of world leaders to follow Washington's efforts to cope with the global financial crisis, he may be in for a surprise. Saturday's remarks by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, prior to a meeting with Bush and European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso on Saturday, strongly indicate that a collective approach to the crisis may not be very easy to find. At a news conference at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, Sarkozy responded to Bush's warning about going too far to repair the current damage by saying he thought it was time for major changes in the international financial system. "Those who have led us to where we are today should not be allowed to do so once again," Sarkozy said, according to the Reuters international news service. "This sort of capitalism is a betrayal of the sort of capitalism we believe in. And that is the reason why ... we have come to make Europe's voice heard." Bush apparently was hoping to reach a quick agreement based on the U.S. plan to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into leading lenders to induce them to begin offering long- and short-term loans again. The credit collapse is threatening to force the world economy into a severe recession or worse. "We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism (and) continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world," Bush said. But Sarkozy last week called for an overhaul of the international system and said the Bush summit would be a "great opportunity" to re-examine the world system.

2 comments:

Joseph M. Fasciana said...

I am no economist, but I tend to agree with the euro solutions, the dire straits that we find ourselves in should really come as no surprise. We have been warned by various professors of economics from both sides of the aisle that this collapse was bound to happen. If you take a serious look from the time Cheney had his secret energy meeting, which I believe was the beginning of the end, then the two wars one of which was strictly for the benefit of the haliburtons of this country and for oil. This has and continues to make the richest of the rich richer and it has left our country in shambles. Not to mention that the Bonnie & Clyde of modern time, Bush and Cheney are directly responsible for plundering the lives of thousands of human being all the while robbing the country of its treasure and selling what little is left to foreign interest. Yes it is time to change the economy, but I fear many will never recover.

Anonymous said...

well i also agree with euro solution