and that is not a criticism. i was otherwise occupied too. but this can't be good:
Quote:
Signs of turmoil grow as G20 looms
By FT reporters
Published: November 13 2008 21:05 | Last updated: November 13 2008 22:14
Evidence of global economic turmoil mounted on Thursday as leaders of the G-20 group of nations began to arrive in Washington for this weekend’s summit.
Germany plunged into recession after a steeper-than-expected 0.5 per cent fall in economic activity in the third quarter, new data showed. In the US, the government said the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to 516,000, its highest level since 2001. Meanwhile, China revealed that its industrial growth hit a seven-year low.
Against this backdrop, US President George W. Bush, host of the summit, delivered an impassioned defence of the free market system, serving warning that his administration would resist efforts to impose heavy-handed regulation on global financial markets.
The outgoing US president vowed to support efforts to bring greater stability and transparency to the troubled financial system but warned it would be a “terrible mistake” to allow “a few months of crisis” to undermine faith in free market capitalism.
While reforms in the financial sector are essential, the long-term solution to today’s problems is sustained economic growth,” he told an audience in New York. “And the surest path to that growth is free markets and free people.”
Lowering expectations for the summit, Mr Bush said the challenges facing the global economy were too great to be resolved in a single weekend and added the talks would be the first in a series of meetings.
Global economic conditions took a sharp turn for the worse after the financial crisis deepened in September, with countries around the world taking big hits to output and employment. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday there was little chance of recovery until the second half of next year.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index of US equities gyrated through the day, rising 5.5 per cent to 899.26 in late trading after falling earlier to its lowest level in more than five years - 818.69, which was down 3.9 per cent on the day.
Traders said the rebound came after the market held its ground above the 800 level and raised hopes that a near-term bottom was in place.
”It’s too early to say whether a bottom is in place, the volatility is ridiculous,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management. ”A week ago we traded above 1,000 on the S&P and now we are back at the low of a wide range.”
Many of the world leaders heading to Washington seemed resigned to waiting until Barack Obama, the US president-elect, takes office in January for long-term solutions to be agreed.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has championed reforms to global financial architecture, including a beefing-up of the International Monetary Fund, but he said this weekend’s talks will see only omg“initial” steps in that direction. Leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain want the summit to map out outline proposals that could bear fruit at another summit within the next 100 days.
Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, believes this is the moment for Europe to assert its expertise in multi-lateral solutions and to propose specific ideas for global solutions, with the European Union taking the lead.
Reporting by Andrew Ward and James Politi in Washington, George Parker in London, Ben Hall in Paris, Michael Mackenzie in New York, Victor Mallet in Madrid, Guy Dinmore in Rome and Tony Barber in Brussels
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FT.com / World - Signs of turmoil grow as G20 looms
so he's still in power and things keep unfolding.
what do you make of this gambit from the bush administration?
i think it's a feint that only someone in a weak position in the context of a crisis would do. or you could say it means that everything is on the table now. or he could be saying what he said about "free market capitalism" in which case what exactly is the position he's adopting? no i think it's the first two which are really the same thing.
it's almost like people are thinking ahead in a kind of vague way and meanwhile things seem to have happened.
what do you think is going on at this point with the global economic system?
because it appears that all of it is involved, yes?
that can't be good.
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or it's a change in the power arrangement in favor of the e.u.. so it'd be the end of the post world war 2 arrangement. that's interesting, isn't it?