Posted on 02/17/2009 5:35:13 PM PST by pissant
Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.
“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”
Sounding more like Barry Goldwater than the former head of the KGB, Putin said, “Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.”
Putin also cautioned the US against using military Keynesianism to lift its economy out of recession, saying, “in the longer run, militarization won’t solve the problem but will rather quell it temporarily. What it will do is squeeze huge financial and other resources from the economy instead of finding better and wiser uses for them.” Putin’s comments come in sharp contrast to Russia’s own military buildup and expansion.
Putin also echoed the words of conservative maverick Ron Paul when he said, “we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets.”
“The time for enlightenment has come. We must calmly, and without gloating, assess the root causes of this situation and try to peek into the future.”
THREE CHEERS FOR PUTIN!!
(what did I just say?)
I believe the full curse is:
May you live in interesting times and come to the attention of powerful people.
How did you happen to end up living there, if I may ask.
Putin for President 2012!
(We'll just have Hawaii issue a Certification of Live Birth, and he can run as a Republican.) ;-)
This is from The Onion, right?
Right???
America - welcome to the Socialist Camp!
Aliens all over DC.
There seem to be many here who think of Prime Minister (past President) Putin as some sort of Communist and head of the KGB, when the truth is that he is now a committed Orthodox Christian, and his mid-level job in the Soviet-era intelligence agency had more to do with economic analysis (sort of like lots of accountants work for the FBI, which doesn't make them the head of the FBI).
It’s..... not from the onion or azconservative.
Apparently, this is real. WSJ real.
I don’t think anyone in the know really ever thought of Putin as a Communist. He admired the Soviet Union for their military power, but I’m sure he was critical of their economic ideology.
There have been articles posted here over the years about Russia’s move into capitalism. It’s very interesting to hear it from someone living there, though.
Great - now I like Putin more than the dems? What is happening to our world?
History writes the best satire and the worst tragedies.
I've been having the same feeling. I keep thinking, What kind of world will our children have to live in?
I tell our 13yo son that every generation has challenges to face. When I was growing up, we worried about the Cold War and a possible nuclear holocaust. His generation must worry more about terrorism against the U.S. But, although I don't say so, I worry that my children's world will be far, far worse.
“Crap. We’ve out commied’ the commies...”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We’re #1!
We’re #1!
U S A!
U S A!
Never in my life would I expect to find myself hoping a Russian would be of any help.
That’s the spirit!
May Putin can see the house of the next President from Russia.
The entire speech is interesting - read it.
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