Ya want some low hanging fruit?
Hold on a sec.....
Posted on 03/11/2009 12:46:24 PM PDT by jessduntno
When the leaders of 20 nations met in Washington in November to face down a grave economic crisis that imperiled them all, the air was filled with promises of a new era of global regulation intended to match a new era of global risk.
“There ought to be some low-hanging fruit we can all agree on,” Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Monday. He spoke after a week of consulting with foreign leaders and hearing European complaints that Americans started this and now are less interested in creating the rules to prevent a repetition.
Nearly five months later, those risks look greater than ever. But it is a measure of the growing strains over how to manage the global contagion — for which much of the world primarily blames the United States — that the world’s major and emerging economic powers cannot agree on whether redoing a system created in 1944 should be Job 1.
In recent days, the White House has signaled that when leaders of the Group of 20 nations meet in London next month, the most pressing issue should be doing more to stimulate their economies through tax and spending policies — something that Obama can assert he has already accomplished.
The major European nations, divided among themselves over the wisdom of taking on more debt to combat the global downturn, remain more interested in focusing on a new approach to financial regulation, the issue that they say sits at the heart of the crisis.
This is a philosophical divide about the European preference for more control over markets, even to the point of creating international regulators who can reach across national borders, and an American fear of gradually diminishing sovereignty over its own institutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at finfacts.ie ...
It is too early to know whether all this will be papered over as the Europeans prepare for Mr. Obama to arrive in Europe for the first time since, as a candidate, he drew cheering throngs of hundreds of thousands into the streets of Berlin.
The mood in Germany in particular is souring; Chancellor Angela Merkel talks about using the moment to enact what she calls “crucial” reforms. At the same time the Germans say their modest stimulus package, about 50 billion euros, or $63 billion, less than a tenth of what Congress passed last month to help the United States economy, is quite enough for now.
The French seem to be siding with the Germans, and so do the Japanese, who are so debt-laden that they do not want to run up even bigger deficits. Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, appears to be leaning toward Mr. Obama’s position that governments ought to spend first and regulate later.
“There ought to be some low-hanging fruit we can all agree on,” Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Monday. He spoke after a week of consulting with foreign leaders and hearing European complaints that the Americans started this and now are less interested in creating the rules to prevent a repetition.
For his part, on Friday, Mr. Obama told The New York Times that“part of what you’re seeing now is weaknesses in Europe that are actually greater than some of the weaknesses here, bouncing back and having an impact on our markets.”
Inside the White House, officials insist that this is a difference of emphasis, not of fundamental approach. They see no threat to the love-fest between Mr. Obama and the Europeans who celebrated the departure of President George W. Bush two months ago.
Yes, officials concede, they have been overwhelmed by the succession of crises that have hit at once: The rapid disintegration of banks that required more capital injections, an auto industry bailout that many inside the administration suspect may be too late to save General Motors, and the accelerating market downturn.
But they insist that after urging coordinated spending sprees, coming up with a plan for Eastern Europe and other vulnerable economies, and beating down protectionist-sounding legislation that has cropped up around Europe, reforming the global regulatory system is next on the to-do list.
“There will be fairly detailed recommendations and principles coming out of the working groups”at the April summit meeting, one senior official who has been deeply involved in that process said on Monday. Among them, others said, were likely to be new rules to limit off-shore banking operations, and discussions about how much hedge funds and private equity groups must open their operations to public examination.
Investors have heard similar promises before. In the aftermath of the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, the Clinton administration pressed a series of measures through the Group of 7 industrial nations, arguing that many elements of the collapse of Asian markets could have been avoided had regulators been more experienced, corruption less rampant, and risks more transparent. But the enthusiasm quickly waned, and by the time Mr. Bush took over, those meetings became much more about terrorism than about setting common rules for the global economy.
This time could be different: The downturn is much sharper, its effects much more broadly felt. But the divide over how to regulate markets is deep. The United States and Britain, the world’s two biggest financial centers, will almost reflexively resist efforts to subject themselves to global regulators.
One European ambassador said last weekend that “in three weeks we’ll see whether the love affair with Mr. Obama can withstand our demand that the Untied States clean up its system fast, and his demand that we contribute more to Afghanistan, even faster.”
““There ought to be some low-hanging fruit we can all agree on,” Senator John Kerry”
You ARE low hanging fruit, Lurch.
One European ambassador said last weekend that “in three weeks we’ll see whether the love affair with Mr. Obama can withstand our demand that the Untied States clean up its system fast, and his demand that we contribute more to Afghanistan, even faster.”
“This President is ruining our standing in the world.”
“He is destroying our alliances with Europe...”
“Our reputation around the world is suffering...”
Bwa hahahahahaha....
How do you like your boy, now, Lefties????
I can agree on apples, oranges and bananas - but NO pineapples.
Well, if anyone recognizes fruit, it’s him. He’s about as fruity as they come.
The only thing that’s coming out of that meeting is ...<p.
beans ... beans ... the musical fruit ...
Barney Frank?
“There ought to be some low-hanging fruit we can all agree on,” Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Monday.
Look no further than your own state of Massachusetts, Senator. Behold Barney Frank.
“Well, if anyone recognizes fruit, it’s him. He’s about as fruity as they come.”
Kerry, Kennedy, Studds and Bawney Fwank...all fro the same state..and they say we SoCal residents are nuts...imagine how shriveled up your pathetic little values must be to keep putting these assholes back in office year after year??? Murderers, pimps, child molesters...cheese and crust all musty...
Barney Frank & low hanging fruit in one sentence? I don’t want to think about it.
Spending a lot of time with Barney Franks lately, Lurch?
I wouldn’t Google that on a bet, lol.
LOL! Not a good idea ..
Ya want some low hanging fruit?
Hold on a sec.....
As Bawney Fwank would say “I find that wemahk to be tewwwiblee iwwwisponsible.”
A post like that’s a felony in some states, mister...
How’s this sound for low hanging fruit everyone can agree on. Let’s dissolve the United Nations!
“How’s this sound for low hanging fruit everyone can agree on. Let’s dissolve the United Nations!”
I’ll drink to that...but of course, these days, I’ll drink to just about anything...”
And I'm not. :-P
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