Germany slams US over credit crisis failures The country's leader, Angela Merkel, has hit out at the US for not doing more to prevent the turmoil in the financial markets Kate Connolly in Berlin Monday September 22 2008 guardian.co.uk
German leader Angela Merkel has issued a frank and angry attack on the US government for its failure to avoid a financial crisis, accusing it of mismanagement and stubbornness. Merkel said that taxpayers "far beyond the United States and Britain" would now carry the burden of a crisis which she said could have been prevented had the US acted more prudently and for which Britain was also to blame. As the German government refused to contribute to a $700bn (?378.7bn) rescue package proposed by Washington today, Merkel criticised the fact that despite impending dangers, the financial markets had been allowed to continue operating in a "free-range" and "matter-of-fact way", and were "supported by the governments in Britain and the US". Merkel told the M?nchner Merkur she had appealed to the Anglo-Saxon countries for more transparency to be introduced for the money markets, rating agencies and hedge funds at last year's G8, which she hosted on Germany's Baltic coast. But she said she had been disappointed at Britain and the US's lack of support for her proposals. Merkel indirectly attacked the US government for dragging the industrialised world into the US's credit crisis thanks to its stubborn refusal to apply virtually any controls to granting credit and allowing credit trading by banks. "We did what we were supposed to do," said Merkel, referring to Germany. "We adopted a decent EU regulation on the national statute books, having listened to the concerns of small businesses... but when it came to it, the Americans said 'that's not for us'." "That's just not on in the international sphere," she added. "It's just not fair competition." She said that while for a long time many had said more transparency was unnecessary, now more people were calling for it. "Things have moved on," she said. "Even America and Britain now want more transparency." "Europe must step in to ensure that we get more transparency on the financial markets, that we get clear rules and that such a crisis that we're now seeing doesn't repeat itself." The German government persisted today in its refusal to participate in Washington's proposed bailout package. Anger is rife in Germany that the US-fuelled crisis is likely to severely dent Germany's continued economic recovery after years of downturn. Joachim Poss of the governing coalition partner, the Social Democrats, said: "The Americans cannot hold Germany responsible for its own failure and arrogance." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:270778 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
