Global reaction's effect on U.S.

The World
The World
(A newsstand from Hong Kong is listing the U.S. companies that are in trouble and then in headline style it says, Wall Street crumbles. Is that correct?) It's increasingly looking that way, and I think the world has question what's going on here. (Who should be questioned?) The wisdom of American economic policies and regulation and we owe the world an answer on how we're going to fix this mess. (Connect the dots for people who are wondering about foreign companies being affected by AIG and that coming back to roost in the U.S.) It matters because all the large financial companies in the world are connected, they all borrow and lend from each other. So for average people there's less money to borrow because these financial institutions have been involved in ill-advised projects. So people are less able to borrow, and the price of these assets declines. (How quickly does that credit crisis translate to a loss of job and a lack of mortgages?) In some cases it'll be very quick and some people will lose their jobs in the next week, month, and year. (What are you telling your clients?) That we want to be lenders to companies that are participating in building productive capacity, we don't want to be lenders in companies that are involved in speculative activities. (What do you say to nervous investors?) We tell institutions that you don't make speculative activity�invest in gold or Asian currencies, don't invest in the dollar. (Why should they do this?) To preserve capital. The main objective is to keep what you have because things are going to get worse before they get better. This is the reality.
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