Assalamualaikum w.w. para sanak sa palanta,
Di bawah ini saya posting apa adanya sebuah artikel dari Yahoo-news tentang
faktor penyebab utama dari krisis finansial dunia ini, yaitu mental serakah
Amerika Serikat. Menurut penglihatan saya artikel ini mudah kita mengerti.
Yang menjadi kerisauan saya selanjutnya adalah sikap mental para pemimpin kita,
yang kelihatannya selama ini mengikuti saja apa yang didiktekan oleh 'The
Washington Consensus' termasuk liberalisasi BUMN, yang juga terjadi
habisan-habisan di sini, seperti pada kasus Semen Gresik, Indosat, dan Telecom.
Wassalam,
Saafroedin Bahar
(L, masuk 72 th, Jakarta)
Alternate e-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
US 'casino' mentality blamed for planet's meltdown
By ALAN CLENDENNING, AP Business WriterTue Sep 30, 5:19 PM ET
Astounded by the U.S. government's failure to resolve the financial crisis
threatening the foundations of the global free market, fingers of blame are
pointing at America from around the planet.
Latin American leaders say the U.S. must quickly fix the financial crisis it
created before the rest of the world's hard-won economic gains are lost.
"The managers of big business took huge risks out of greed," said President
Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, whose economy is highly dependent on U.S. trade.
"What happens in the United States will affect the entire world and, above all,
small countries like ours."
In Europe, where some blame a phenomenon of "casino capitalism" that has become
deeply engrained from New York to London to Moscow, there is more of a sense of
shared responsibility. But Europeans also blame the U.S. government for letting
things get out of hand.
Amid harsh criticism is a growing consensus that stricter financial regulation
is needed to prevent unfettered capitalism from destroying economies around the
globe.
And leaders of developing nations that kept spending tight and opened their
economies in response to American demands are warning of other consequences — a
loss of U.S. influence globally and the likelihood that the world's poor will
suffer the most from greed by the biggest players in global finance.
"They spent the last three decades saying we needed to do our chores. They
didn't," a grim-faced Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said
Tuesday.
Even staunch U.S. allies like Colombian President Alvaro Uribe blasted the
world's most powerful country for egging on uncontrolled financial speculation
that he compared to a wild horse with no reins.
"The whole world has financed the United States, and I believe that they have a
reciprocal debt with the planet," he said.
It's harder for European leaders to point the finger directly at the United
States since many of their financiers participated in the recklessness. London
was home to the division of failed insurer AIG that racked up huge losses on
credit-default swaps, and many reputable European banks disregarded risk to
load up on higher yielding subprime assets.
But the House's rejection Monday of the U.S. bank bailout proposed by Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson provoked a sharper tone and warnings that America must
act. Though global markets on Tuesday recovered some of the ground they lost in
a worldwide slide the day before, politicians from Europe to South America
insisted the risk of a further plunge remains high.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on U.S. lawmakers to pass a package this
week, saying it was the "precondition for creating new confidence on the
markets — and that is of incredibly great significance."
In an unusually blunt statement from the 27-country European Union, EU
Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said: "The United States must take
its responsibility in this situation, must show statesmanship for the sake of
their own country, and for the sake of the world."
The crisis also has strengthened voices in France and Germany calling for EU
regulations to eliminate highly deregulated financial markets, despite
objections from Britain, which along with the U.S. is considered by some to
practice a freer form of "Anglo-Saxon" capitalism.
"This crisis underlines the excesses and uncertainties of a casino capitalism
that has only one logic — lining your pockets," said German lawmaker Martin
Schulz, chairman of the Socialists in the EU assembly. "It also shows the
bankruptcy of 'law of the jungle' capitalism that no longer invests in
companies and job creation, but instead makes money out of money in a totally
uncontrolled way."
The U.S. government's failure to apply rules that might have prevented the
crisis is seen as a betrayal in many developing countries that faced intense
U.S. pressures to liberalize their economies. In some developing nations, state
enterprises were privatized, currencies were allowed to float against the U.S.
dollar and painful measures were taken to bring down debts.
These advances are at risk now that credit is drying up. Countries with
commodities-based economies are particularly vulnerable since more
industrialized nations could reduce their demand for everything from soy to
iron ore.
"It doesn't seem fair to me that those of us who endured so much hunger in the
20th century, who began to improve in the 21st century, should have to suffer
due to the international financial system," Silva said. "There are going to be
a lot of people going hungry in the world."
Just before meeting with Silva on Tuesday, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez said
he believes a new economic order is in store for the planet.
"What's to blame? Imperialism, the United States, the irresponsibility of the
United States government," said the self-avowed socialist and frequent U.S.
critic. "From this crisis, a new world has to emerge, and it's a multi-polar
world."
China's influence in the outcome of all this could be profound because it is a
huge investor in U.S. debt. It is already calling for strict new international
regulatory systems to apply to globalized financial markets.
Liu Mingkang, chairman of the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission, said
Saturday before a weeklong bank holiday in China that debt in the United States
and elsewhere has risen to dangerous and indefensible levels.
The rest of the world is taking notice. Many newspapers made references Tuesday
to China's increasing importance in global finance. In Algeria, a large cartoon
on the front page of the newspaper El-Watan showed Uncle Sam at prayer: "Save
us!" he says, kneeling before a portrait of China's Mao Zedong.
In London, Jane Ayerson, a 20-year-old Irish exchange student, said Europeans
share the blame.
"The problem started with America, but banks here have been greedy, too," she
said.
___
Associated Press writers Michelle Faul in Johannesburg, South Africa; Alfred de
Montesquiou in Algiers, Algeria; Raf Cassert in Brussels, Belgium; Jane Wardell
and David McHugh in London; and Marco Sibaja in Manaus, Brazil, contributed to
this report.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information
contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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