Global Solution Thread

[fabijo]

This is a thread to discuss and share what we are finding out from the world leaders as to what "coordinated" efforts they will be taking to stabilize the world's economies.

 

[fabijo]

From Bloomberg.com

October 10, 2008
Berlusconi Says Leaders May Close World's Markets
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aP5mpMUORBWM

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they ``rewrite the rules of international finance.''

....

Berlusconi didn't give any details about what kind of rules leaders were looking to change, except to say that leaders are ``talking about a new Bretton Woods.''

The Bretton Woods Agreements were adopted to rebuild the international economic system after World War II in a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The aim of the agreements was to establish a monetary management system, initially by pegging currencies to gold. The IMF was set up later to help manage the international financial system.

 

[fabijo]

The New American
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/437

October 20, 2008
Global Financial Regulatory Body on the Way?

With the European Union leading the way, the internationalists are preparing to exploit the recent global financial turmoil to hold a "second Bretton Woods" and radically restructure the world's entire international financial system. The first Bretton Woods international conference in 1944, lest we forget, ended up saddling the world with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank (known formally as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

 

[fabijo]

From the European Commission website
http://ec.europa.eu/news/economy/081016_1_en.htm

October 16, 2008
EU summit – financial crisis dominates talks

EU leaders call for overhaul of international financial system.

The reform must be “all-encompassing” and should include more international supervision, a global “early warning” system for crisis and worldwide regulatory standards to ensure transparency and accountability, the leaders said.

The EU has called for an international summit on the crisis. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are meeting with US President George W. Bush this weekend to discuss the idea.

So, they met at Camp David. They are scheduling a worldwide summit in November.

 

[fabijo]

Bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=apjqJKKQvfDc&refer=home

October 19, 2008
ECB's Nowotny Sees Global `Tri-Polar' Currency System Evolving

European Central Bank council member Ewald Nowotny said a ``tri-polar'' global currency system is developing between Asia, Europe and the U.S. and that he's skeptical the U.S. dollar's centrality can be revived.

``What I see is a system where we have more centers of gravity'' Nowotny said today in an interview with Austrian state broadcaster ORF-TV. ``I see for the future a tri-polar development, and I don't think that there will be fixed exchange rates between these poles.''

The leaders of the U.S., France and the European Commission will ask other world leaders to join in a series of summits on the global financial crisis beginning in the U.S. soon after the Nov. 4 presidential election, President George W. Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Barroso said in a joint statement yesterday.

 

[fabijo]

The world economic summit is now scheduled for Nov 15, in Washington, D.C. with the G-20. Lots of world leaders are showing up on such short notice. I hope D.C. won't be too crowded that week!! :nuts: I mean, it will only be 11 days after elections!

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/10/20081022-2.html

Q Will the President-elect be there?

MS. PERINO: As I've said, we will look for his input after the election. But I think it's too early to say. We don't know what that President will want or not want to do, and so we'll just leave that open for now. But just to say that the President does anticipate and look forward to seeking the President-elect's input as we move forward.

Q A number of the European allies have said what's needed is a wholesale rewrite of the rules under which financial markets operate. Does the President think that's needed?

MS. PERINO: I think that we -- I think that everybody will come with their ideas, and the President recognizes that every country is going to have a responsibility, but not every country is going to have the same solution. So there will be a lot of people coming forward with recommendations and ideas. There's lots of financial experts in all of these countries, and we have some in our own country. We'll come with our own recommendations, and they'll come with theirs, and that's what you would expect of a meeting of this kind. So I think it's too early to say what will come out of it.

Q So, do you foresee any kind of system of global financial regulation coming out of this? Is that ruled in or ruled out?

MS. PERINO: I don't believe that you'll have any details coming out of this meeting in terms of things that everyone agrees to at the first meeting. I think that what the goal is for this meeting is to identify the causes; note the progress to date that we've made working together in a coordinated fashion, which the President wants to continue; identify principles for reform; and then task the working groups to put meat on those bones and figure out what the principles will look like once they have more detail attached to them.

And the President is very clear that every country is going to have different ideas on how to do this in their own country. We've been able to take actions in our separate countries, but in a coordinated way, and that's been beneficial for the markets. We've started to see some stabilization and strengthening even while the markets absorbed some pretty tough news over the past few days.

 

[Miss_Piggy]

Scandal Hinders I.M.F.’s Role in Global Lending: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/worldbusiness/22imf.html

 

[James48843]

Scandal Hinders I.M.F.’s Role in Global Lending: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/worldbusiness/22imf.html

From the article:

Mr. Strauss-Kahn has issued an apology to staff members and to the woman with whom he carried on the brief relationship. The fund’s executive board has hired a law firm to investigate the charges against him, and hopes to make a decision after it receives the firm’s report by the end of the month.

We have a major world financial crisis, and somebody's worried about who can and can't keep their pants on ? ? ?


Even King David had that problem......


Look, people are....Human. All fall short.

Now, let's get back to dealing with curing the world's banking crisis, ok?

 

[Miss_Piggy]

....
We have a major world financial crisis, and somebody's worried about who can and can't keep their pants on ? ? ?
Even King David had that problem......
Look, people are....Human. All fall short.
Now, let's get back to dealing with curing the world's banking crisis, ok?

James, put your wife on the phone. I want to talk to her about your perspective these days.

 

[fabijo]

James, put your wife on the phone. I want to talk to her about your perspective these days.

ROFL!! :laugh:

 

[Show-me]

The global solution is simple, make me the Supreme Ruler for life.

“When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” Ben Franklin

 

[XL-entLady]

James, put your wife on the phone. I want to talk to her about your perspective these days.

Too, too funny, Miss Piggy! Although I agree with James that we are talking magnitudes of difference in crises, I thought your reaction was absolutely priceless! :laugh:

Lady

 

[XL-entLady]

The global solution is simple, make me the Supreme Ruler for life.

When I voted earlier this week, I missed that "Supreme Ruler" section. Dang! You'd have had my vote for sure! :laugh:

Lady

 

[fabijo]

Let's look to China for the answer:

EU presses China to show leadership in crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/forexNews/idUSTRE49M41B20081023?sp=true

The comments by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set the stage for a two-day summit in Beijing of the 27 EU member states and 16 Asian countries covering the global downturn, climate change and international security.

"We need a coordinated global response to reform the global financial system. We are living in unprecedented times, and we need unprecedented levels of global coordination," Barroso said.

Diplomats said the commission, the EU's executive arm, and France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, hope to win a commitment from China in particular to use its clout to help shape the reforms and tackle the economic imbalances at the root of the current meltdown.

Later, Barroso dangled the carrot of greater influence for Beijing on the world financial stage.

...

"We think China could and should have a greater voice in international financial institutions," Barroso said in a speech at a school for civil servants.

 

[fabijo]

Asian and European Leaders Urge New Financial Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/25/AR2008102500940.html

The Beijing meeting appeared to be a victory for Sarkozy, who has taken the lead in representing his European Union colleagues in pushing for an overhaul of the world's financial systems and the creation of a new "regulated capitalism" as soon as possible. Sarkozy has said such steps cannot wait until a new U.S. president takes office.

President Bush has said, however, that enacting ideas into law "must be a top priority for the next president and the next Congress."

Sarkozy said Asian leaders have joined their European counterparts in expressing a "willingness for the Washington summit to be a place where we make some decisions, and we have all understood that it would not be possible to simply meet and have a discussion. We need to turn it into a decision-making forum."

 

[fabijo]

Now this one is classic.

U.S. has plundered world wealth with dollar: China paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE49N1XX20081024

The United States has plundered global wealth by exploiting the dollar's dominance, and the world urgently needs other currencies to take its place, a leading Chinese state newspaper said on Friday.

"The U.S. dollar is losing people's confidence. The world, acting democratically and lawfully through a global financial organization, urgently needs to change the international monetary system based on U.S. global economic leadership and U.S. dollar dominance," he wrote.

 

[Silverbird]

Now this one is classic.

U.S. has plundered world wealth with dollar: China paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE49N1XX20081024

Sureeee China, can I invest in some Yuan? KThanks. You don't even have to be the leading currency, Signed USA.
Hrmm, not getting an answer. Hello? hello?
P.S. Forget what we said earlier, holding dollars is good, really. Really. It's your policy, right?

 

[fabijo]

Ok, this is not necessarily economy related, except indirectly. Here's the other worldwide emergency that will probably be hitting headlines over and over again once the elections are done and once all the world has their economic summit.

Ecological credit crunch potentially more damaging than financial crisis, says WWF
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/10/29/eawwf129.xml

The Earth's natural resources are being used up to 30 per cent faster than they can be replaced in a reckless environmental spending spree, according to a WWF report. As a result half the countries in the world are in ecological debt and unless the trend is reversed by 2030 it will take the equivalent of two planets to keep pace with demand.

The recent downturn in the global economy is a stark reminder of the consequences of living beyond our means. But the possibility of financial recession pales in comparison to the looming ecological credit crunch.

 

[Silverbird]

Not from the WWF, it won't be headlines. Greenpeace makes more noise and hasn't gotten many backers. Anyway, if we are smart about it, we can conserve energy and work on alternatives and make $$ while we upgrade our infrastructure.

 

[fabijo]

If the goal is to create a new currency, what would you be doing if you were one of the big banks?

How about hoard as much currency as possible? How do you do that? You sell everything you have. Sell stocks, commodities, assets... anything. Because the changeover period is going to be the most profitable. When you change over from the old currency to the new one, you've got the best chance of getting in at the best prices if you do it at the beginning.

This could explain the nutty markets right now. There is a big cash harvest happening. First, there was a huge selloff, getting loads of cash. Since there's more cash to be had, you've got to manipulate the markets a little by throwing some cash into it, then selling your stocks and commodities to end up with more cash.

We're probably going to be seeing this over the next few months as we get closer and closer to the new monetary system which will be announced.