The Speech We Should Have Heard at the G-20 »
Posted By jovial 7 months, 2 weeks ago in Business & Finance
At the financial summit in Washington, the international community was unduly respectful of the United States, neglecting to probe more deeply into the reasons for the crisis. Only one attendee was unruly -- German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück. Here's the message he didn't deliver to Bush.
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jovial
Grew up In Brooklyn. Joined the Navy in 1976 stayed in 10 years. Aircraft Electronics tech. Worked for Major Govt. contractor then settled in California ...
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dissent7 months, 2 weeks ago
in a way it did.
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all of the things credited as having been said by steinbrück were in fact said by steinbrück.... just not at the g20.
fta
"The president's assurances at this event that the United States will support greater transparency and less speculation have nothing to do with moral purification, Steinbrück says sternly. "America is acting out of naked self-interest," he adds. A country that needs two-thirds of the world's savings to pay for its consumption ought to be interested in functioning financial markets, says Steinbrück."
i wish he'd said it at the g20 which was heralded as what was supposed to be bretton wood 2.....
more like bretton wood duck :|
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berkeley7 months, 2 weeks ago
the life of a public official is fraught with conflicts, especially when the emperor has no clothes.
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gamahuche7 months, 2 weeks ago
Even if you don't believe in the laws of karma the hubris of imagining that you can, for ever, escape the consequences of your actions defies belief.
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I can only imagine that GWB sees the world in the context of a 2-dimensional cartoon story, one which plays only in time present.
Someone capable of using any excuse to avoid responsibility, provided that he can get away with it.
If I can imagine that in his fantasy world he may well have considered that his "angels" had created the accident then by the same token I can be equally sure that he would have believed it..:)-
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gamahuche7 months, 2 weeks ago
P.S. berkeley sent me the heads-up on this story with the title single-word title "imagine".
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StevieGee7 months, 2 weeks ago
Even if everyone had told Bush the truth from the beginning he still wouldn't understand.
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HMMace7 months, 2 weeks ago
THIS CRISIS WE ARE IN WAS CAUSED BY GREEDY WALL STREET, AND GREEDY, AND CORRUPPT POLITICIANS..PERIOD...
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NOW--WHO IS GOING TO JAIL??? NOT WALL STREET--GREED IS NOT A CRIME--BUT--CORRUPT POLITICIANS--NOW--THEY CAN GO TO JAIL-
WHO ??? -
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awongscreen7 months, 2 weeks ago
Great observation. Problem with greed and de-regulation (or disregard for regulation)? Is this not capitalism, "free" market economy?
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This capitalist society we are in is driving more wealth in the hands of the rich. As the world's population exceeds what earth can support, the consequence we see is robbing the poor and give it to the rich.
Unfortunately, the ugly side of human nature is unwilling to see the negative impacts of capitalism because most people are striving to become a member of the rich. Kempf's book "How the rich is destroying the earth" provides good information on this topic and should be read by all.
Communism (or pseudo communism) ruined the life of people living under communist dictators in the past. Now it is capitalism's turn to destroy the earth. -
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Charlson7 months, 2 weeks ago
"Free market capitalism," Bush said in New York, the world's financial capital, to the warm, guaranteed applause of a handpicked audience, "is the highway to the American dream."
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"Steinbrück decides to borrow Bush's imagery. This highway, he says, needs guardrails and rules -- and penalties for anyone who breaks the rules. Otherwise, as the events of recent weeks show, millions of people will end up in the ditch -- including those who once considered themselves immortal, like New York investment bankers."
What an apt allegory. -
TFLComment removed: User banned.
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TFLComment removed: User banned.
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Poulenc7 months, 2 weeks ago
In his head, Bush has undoubtedly been "outta there" for some time now.
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And a "what-me-worry?" POV/affect is kinda his default mentality. One has always had the impression that he approached the actual business of the presidency by backing into it just as much as was necessary to appear engaged. But even that MO was faulty.
He was and is a figurehead. But the "head" is now, like the portrait in Dorian Grey's attic, monstrous. -
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Spadecaller7 months, 2 weeks ago
Dinner should have been smoked crow and not under glass but behind bars.
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ETproductions7 months, 2 weeks ago
This is what happens when you put power in the hands of raw ideologues. No matter how badly they fail, they are always convinced the cure is more of the medicine that made us all sick.
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