In an effort to keep markets free (from regulation, oversight and accountability) the United States argued to the G-20 that global regulation would be bad for business.
Monkey Business? The United States has just perpetrated the largest fraud in the history of markets, and now demands to be treated as if nothing has happened. The press in the United States has hinted, only hinted, that the global depression might have something to do with Wall Street, by saying that the "downturn began in New York." Let me tell you an analogy that will make this lie very clear. Wall Street strangled the goose that laid the golden egg and is telling the world she died of a heart attack. If Washington will not be accountable now, then when? If there are no public apologies and the admission of wrong-doing, how can the US ever be trusted again? Won't central banks and Sovereign Funds be told by their governments never to purchase another American-only instrument? The only way these issues get clear is for the guilty to apologize, for the fraud to stop and the crooks to pay a penalty -- but that's not the case here. Bush is demanding "free markets" -- as if he knew the meaning. ========== G-20 to Back Stimulus, Call for More Market Oversight (Update1) By Michael McKee and Simon Kennedy Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders meeting in Washington are moving to shore up the deteriorating world economy while papering over differences on additional regulation of financial markets. In a draft of the statement to be issued after their meeting today, members of the Group of 20 endorse steps already underway to fight a global recession by pursuing active monetary and fiscal policies, French officials told reporters on condition they not be named. There are also proposals to bolster the role of the International Monetary Fund and complete the Doha round of world trade talks by the end of the year. The leaders hide disagreements between the U.S. and European governments over the future shape of the global financial system by agreeing each should pursue more effective regulation of markets and institutions in their own countries. They will commit to meet again by the end of April, after President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the French officials said. "I'm pleased that we're discussing a way forward to make sure that such a crisis is unlikely to occur again,'' President George W. Bush told reporters before today's meeting. ``There's some progress being made, but there's still a lot of work to be done.'' Tumbling stock markets and forecasts for global recession are putting pressure on the G-20 leaders, who met last night for a dinner of quail, roast lamb and pear torte at the White House. Fiscal Stimulus Figures released yesterday showed the euro area entered a recession in the third quarter for the first time since the single currency was introduced a decade ago, and retail sales in the U.S. fell by the most on record in October. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 38 points yesterday to close at 873, a loss of 6 percent for the week and 41 percent this year. The first step in countering those developments is raising government spending to boost growth where necessary, the leaders will say. Some G-20 countries including the U.K., Japan, China and Germany are rolling out stimulus packages. So far, Bush is resisting Democratic lawmakers' calls for a second round of stimulus in the U.S. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged countries to increase spending, saying his country is working to ``stoke domestic demand'' and other should, too. "The best solution to keep the financial crisis from worsening is for the rich countries to solve their economic problems,'' he said. The communique will also offer a long list of measures for countries to study in improving oversight of financial institutions whose operations, and problems, cross national borders. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the G-20 will also set a year-end deadline for concluding the Doha round after trade talks collapsed in July. Ratings Companies The list includes improving regulation of credit ratings agencies, extending surveillance to hedge funds, and greater exchange of information, the French officials said. Finessing a disagreement between Bush and European leaders, almost all of the measures are national in scope. (THESE ARE THE TRUE CROOKS -- THEY KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE DOING.) "These are tough talks,'' U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters today. "Countries are coming from very different positions.'' (Yeah, like innocence and guilt.) European Union nations, led by Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, want the world's top banks to be subject to international regulation, an idea Bush has rejected. At a Nov. 7 meeting in Brussels, EU leaders instead called for the creation of regulatory "colleges'' (bullshit) that would bring together bank regulators from various nations to coordinate oversight. Bush argued against greater government intervention in his weekly radio address today. "The surest path to that growth is free markets and free people,'' he said. (ideologue to the end, without a shred of understanding.) Merkel's Approach Europeans also disagree on how far and how fast to go. German Chancellor Angela Merkel favors a more gradual strengthening of regulation than the sweeping revamp of controls favored by Sarkozy, according to a German government document obtained by Bloomberg News. (She's a jerk. She's trying to stay on the good side of Washington, without an ounce of benefit to Germany.) Still, Merkel said yesterday that she'll do "everything to ensure that there are more rules to prevent us from ever having to face such a situation again.'' Several other initiatives, in the works for some time, were announced on the eve of the summit. The first central clearinghouse for the $33 trillion credit-default swap market should be in operation by year-end in the U.S., under an agreement signed yesterday by three U.S. financial regulators. Clearinghouse The clearinghouse would back trades and absorb losses in case of a dealer failure. Some in Europe have been pushing for a clearinghouse under government control, or within the IMF. Investors, supported by the Fed, want it to be independent. The New York Fed has been meeting with groups including CME Group Inc., Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and NYSE Euronext on plans to create a privately run organization. (These swaps should be outlawed. Making money on paper is stupid, unhealthy, and meaningless until they get too big to fail.) The IMF will have a role, along with the Financial Stability Forum in conducting "early warning exercises'' and issuing joint risk assessments of financial markets, the two organizations said yesterday. The FSF includes officials from the Group of Seven nations along with Australia, Singapore, Switzerland and the Netherlands. (Everyone under the desk! We're calling an early warning exercise. Stay there until you hear the all clear.) Separately, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's office said his government will offer up to $100 billion in lending to the IMF at the summit and ask other nations to give further resources. The IMF agreed today to give Pakistan a $7.6 billion loan package to help the south Asian country avert defaulting on its debt. (Nice show of solidarity even if a billion barely touches the problem. Still saving face is important -- I'm not demeaning what he's done. Simply pointing out that 1 bn in todays global economy is like me offering one tear.) Obama's Call Some emerging-market nations with large reserves have been reluctant to increase contributions to the IMF unless they are given more of a say in how the organization is run. Today's discussion will include ways to widen the role of emerging markets in the Fund. (Wonder why that is? No regulation, just pour your sovereign funds into the hole known as the US-IMF Fund.) The G-20 statement will set a deadline of March 31 for authorities to implement the measures. They pledge to meet again before the end of April, when a new American administration is in office. Obama isn't attending the meeting, sending former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Republican Representative Jim Leach to meet delegations instead. Obama, in the Democratic party's weekly radio address today, called the crisis "the greatest economic challenge of our times'' and urged Congress, returning for a lame-duck session this week, to immediately pass a ``down payment'' on a larger stimulus program that would include extending unemployment benefits for fired workers. (The least they can do. Anything more will just be Paulson paying off his buddies and making sure they walk with millions. No more bailout no matter how much we need it, under Bush.) G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union. The Netherlands and Spain are also represented, as are the IMF, World Bank, the FSF, and United Nations. To contact the reporter on this story: Michael McKee in Washington at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Kennedy in Washington at [EMAIL PROTECTED]; ========== My comments are interspersed in the article. If it sounds as if I am angry, you are an excellent judge. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
