Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm
Aired on March 25, 2009
Gee, maybe Mr. Soros and his sock puppet, Hussein Obama should sit together in front of the entire nation and explain this one to us?
A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been 'stimulating' and the culmination of his life's work.
George Soros, who predicted the global financial crisis twice before, was one of the few people to anticipate and prepare for the current economic collapse.
Mr Soros said his prediction meant he was better able to brace his Quantum investment fund against the gloabal storm.
But other investors failed to take notice of his prediction and his decision to come out of retirement in 2007 to manage the fund made him $US2.9 billion.
And while the financial crisis continued to deepen across the globe, the 78-year-old still managed to make $1.1 billion last year.
'It is, in a way, the culminating point of my life’s work,' he told national newspaper The Australian.
Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is "open" to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China's central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more modest and "evolutionary."
"I haven’t read the governor’s proposal. He’s a very thoughtful, very careful distinguished central banker. I generally find him sensible on every issue," Geithner said, saying that however his interpretation of the proposal was to increase the use of International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights -- shares in the body held by its members -- not creating a new currency in the literal sense.
"We’re actually quite open to that suggestion – you should see it as rather evolutionary rather building on the current architecture rather than moving us to global monetary union," he said.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0309/Geithner_open_to_China_proposal.html?showall
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience Friday "never waste a good crisis," and highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy-intensive way.
Highlighting Europe's unease the day after Russia warned that gas flows via Ukraine might be halted, she also condemned the use of energy as a political lever.
Clinton told young Europeans at the European Parliament that global economic turmoil provided a fresh opening. "Never waste a good crisis ... Don't waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security," she said.
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINTRE5251VN20090306
WASHINGTON – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday an "economic hurricane" has swept the world and U.S. leaders shouldn't view the crisis as limited to America's borders.
In a formal address to a Joint Meeting of Congress, Brown said that U.S.-European relations were at an all-time high and that the two nations must seize on the opportunity to bring about change. He warned that protectionism ultimately makes every nation vulnerable because "a bad bank anywhere is a threat to good banks everywhere."
"No matter where it starts, an economic crisis does not stop at the water's edge," he said told lawmakers gathered in the cavernous House chamber. "It ripples across the world," declared Brown, whose speech was applauded on several occasions.
The prime minister was facing a U.S. Congress deeply divided on how to solve America's economic crisis, with Republicans sparring with President Barack Obama on whether more government intervention and money can salvage financial markets.
His remarks come as he is looking for a boost to his own political fortunes. In hard political times at home, he hopes to benefit from Britons' high regard for President Barack Obama and to demonstrate British leadership at a time of economic uncertainty.
Brown repeatedly spoke of Americans' optimism in the face of tough times with nods to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Ronald Reagan, as well as Obama. He referenced President George W. Bush once, briefly referring to Bush's work on Middle East peace talks.
Brown took a swipe at Bush's defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who once scoffed at European critics of the war, branding them "Old Europe."
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/gordon_brown_congress/2009/03/04/188290.html
The Prime Minister said the two countries' historic "partnership of purpose" should be directed at fighting the downturn as well as terrorism, poverty and disease.
Mr Brown, who will be the first European leader to meet with Mr Obama since he came to office, said: "I believe there is no challenge so great or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by America, Britain and the world working together.
"That is why President Obama and I will discuss this week a global new deal, whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York - and giving security to the hard-working families in every country."
It would require all continents to make cash injections to boost economies, all countries to adopt green policies, universal banking reforms and changes to international bodies, he suggested.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.
Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.
He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.
"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."
His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to President Barack Obama.
Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain.
"I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world," Volcker said.
