Impact of G20 summit
KR says the leaders didn’t acknowledge the importance of the political process in creating the economic crisis: President Bush, Gordon Brown were the leaders for a long time and governments take many actions which affect markets and they didn’t really explain that. I think it’s not a small issue because we also need to fix the poltical systems where the financial lobbyists have a lot of influence, and we need to give the regulators more independence. (So what was missing then?) It’s not so much that they said wrong things, but the importance of acknowledging the political process. But Greenspan said he was wrong in his analysis of markets and being so lax in regulation, and they could’ve also said something like that, and have blamed the political system in part too. (You didn’t want more specific? Who should’ve stood up and said something?) There are a lot of hands like this, so they blamed a lot of people�the rating agencies, the investors. But part of the problem is the political process, which can undermine any other solution. (It sounds like you wished there was a bit more finger pointing.) Well everyone realizes the U.S. is ground zero here. This meeting could’ve devolved into everyone blaming the U.S. and it’s good they didn’t because U.S. also needs to be part of the solution. (Is Europe second in culpability?) Britain is up there with the U.S. I think continental Europe has lots of problems, but the U.S. created this problem mostly.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.