Russia and China are coordinating proposals on a new global currency that could replace the US dollar as a reserve currency to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis, the Kremlin said on Monday. “We have received proposals from our colleagues in China, detailed proposals,” President Dmitry Medvedev’s top economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich said. “Our positions are very similar. “We have similar positions on the development of the international financial architecture,” he told reporters.
Russia and China are coordinating proposals on a new global currency that could replace the US dollar as a reserve currency to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis, the Kremlin said on Monday.
“We have received proposals from our colleagues in China, detailed proposals,” President Dmitry Medvedev’s top economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich said. “Our positions are very similar.
“We have similar positions on the development of the international financial architecture,” he told reporters.
Russia, China cooperate on new currency proposals:
Obama About To Put The Government Into The Auto Warranty Business By Rob on March 30, 2009 at 07:01 am Why not? General Motors has become Government Motors, so it’s just natural that we’d have the government running warranties too right? Obama will make two other announcements Monday. One, the president will announce a new government-backed warranty program for all new GM and Chrysler vehicles purchased during this restructuring period. A fund will be set up equal to 125 percent of the total cost to pay for warranty service. The auto makers will contribute 15 percent while the government will provide 110 percent, with the money coming from the economic stabilization funds, the gift that keeps on giving. A separate company will hold the funds and pay the claims even if one of the auto manufacturers goes into bankruptcy or out of business. The president will also name a Director of Recovery for Auto Workers and Communities. Edward Montgomery, labor economist and former Deputy Secretary of Labor, will serve in the role, helping autoworkers, communities, and regions adversely impacted by the failure of the automakers find new jobs, businesses, and industries. Owners of GM and Chrysler vehicles can expect the same level of customer service and responsiveness they get from the DMV. Frankly, this will probably be a big selling point for Toyota, Honda, Kia and other foreign auto manufacturers. At least until Obama drives them out of the country with protectionist, anti-foreign business policies in order to eliminate their competition with our new nationalized domestic auto industry.
By Rob on March 30, 2009 at 07:01 am Why not? General Motors has become Government Motors, so it’s just natural that we’d have the government running warranties too right?
Obama will make two other announcements Monday. One, the president will announce a new government-backed warranty program for all new GM and Chrysler vehicles purchased during this restructuring period. A fund will be set up equal to 125 percent of the total cost to pay for warranty service. The auto makers will contribute 15 percent while the government will provide 110 percent, with the money coming from the economic stabilization funds, the gift that keeps on giving. A separate company will hold the funds and pay the claims even if one of the auto manufacturers goes into bankruptcy or out of business. The president will also name a Director of Recovery for Auto Workers and Communities. Edward Montgomery, labor economist and former Deputy Secretary of Labor, will serve in the role, helping autoworkers, communities, and regions adversely impacted by the failure of the automakers find new jobs, businesses, and industries.
Obama will make two other announcements Monday.
One, the president will announce a new government-backed warranty program for all new GM and Chrysler vehicles purchased during this restructuring period. A fund will be set up equal to 125 percent of the total cost to pay for warranty service. The auto makers will contribute 15 percent while the government will provide 110 percent, with the money coming from the economic stabilization funds, the gift that keeps on giving. A separate company will hold the funds and pay the claims even if one of the auto manufacturers goes into bankruptcy or out of business.
The president will also name a Director of Recovery for Auto Workers and Communities. Edward Montgomery, labor economist and former Deputy Secretary of Labor, will serve in the role, helping autoworkers, communities, and regions adversely impacted by the failure of the automakers find new jobs, businesses, and industries.
Owners of GM and Chrysler vehicles can expect the same level of customer service and responsiveness they get from the DMV.
Frankly, this will probably be a big selling point for Toyota, Honda, Kia and other foreign auto manufacturers. At least until Obama drives them out of the country with protectionist, anti-foreign business policies in order to eliminate their competition with our new nationalized domestic auto industry.
Obama About To Put The Government Into The Auto Warranty Business | Say Anything: North Dakota’s Most Popular Political Blog
Economics: The Keynesian Resurgence of 2008–2009 Main article: 2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence The financial crisis of 2007–2009 led to public scepticism about the free market consensus even from some on the economic right. In March 2008, Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, announced the death of the dream of global free-market capitalism, and quoted Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, as saying “I no longer believe in the market’s self-healing power.”[35] Shortly afterward influential Economist Robert Shiller began advocating robust government intervention to tackle the financial crises, specifically citing Keynes.[36][37] A series of major bail-outs followed starting on 7 September with the announcement that the U.S. government was to nationalize the two firms which oversaw most of the U.S. subprime mortgage market—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In October, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer referred to Keynes as he announced plans for substantial fiscal stimulus to head off the worst effects of recession, in accordance with Keynesian economic thought.[38] Similar policies have been announced in other European countries, by the U.S., and by China.[39] This is in stark contrast to the action permitted to Indonesia during its financial crisis of 1997, when it was forced by the IMF to close 16 banks at the same time, prompting a bank run.[40] Prominent Keynesian economists include Paul Krugman and arguably, Greg Mankiw, Robert Reich Joseph Stiglitz and Axel Leijonhufvud. The works on Keynes of Hyman Minsky,[41] Robert Skidelsky,[42] Donald Markwell[43] and Axel Leijonhufvud[44] were widely cited. Much recent discussion reflected Keynes’s advocacy of international coordination of fiscal or monetary stimulus, and of international economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which he had helped to create at Bretton Woods in 1944, and which many argued should be reformed at a “new Bretton Woods”.[45] This was evident at the G20 and APEC meetings in Washington, D.C., and Lima, Peru, in November 2008, and in coordinated reductions of interest rates by many countries in November and December 2008. IMF and United Nations economists advocated a coordinated international approach to fiscal stimulus.[46] Keynesian intervention was employed to aid US financial institutions by the creation of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) spearheaded by Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in October 2008. In reference to TARP injections of federal money into private enterprise, President Bush said: “To make sure the economy doesn’t collapse, I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.”[47] By the end of December 2008, the Financial Times reported that “the sudden resurgence of Keynesian policy is a stunning reversal of the orthodoxy of the past several decades” and that of all the modern economies “only Germany remains publicly sceptical that fiscal stimulus will work”[48] Keynesian thinking was also reflected in the appointment by U.S. President Barack Obama of Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, and Christina Romer to the principal economic positions in his administration. In a speech on 8 January 2009,[49] then President Elect Obama unveiled a plan for extensive domestic spending to combat recession (a stimulus package close to $1 trillion) thus further reflecting Keynesian thinking.
Main article: 2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence
The financial crisis of 2007–2009 led to public scepticism about the free market consensus even from some on the economic right. In March 2008, Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, announced the death of the dream of global free-market capitalism, and quoted Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, as saying “I no longer believe in the market’s self-healing power.”[35] Shortly afterward influential Economist Robert Shiller began advocating robust government intervention to tackle the financial crises, specifically citing Keynes.[36][37] A series of major bail-outs followed starting on 7 September with the announcement that the U.S. government was to nationalize the two firms which oversaw most of the U.S. subprime mortgage market—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In October, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer referred to Keynes as he announced plans for substantial fiscal stimulus to head off the worst effects of recession, in accordance with Keynesian economic thought.[38] Similar policies have been announced in other European countries, by the U.S., and by China.[39] This is in stark contrast to the action permitted to Indonesia during its financial crisis of 1997, when it was forced by the IMF to close 16 banks at the same time, prompting a bank run.[40]
Prominent Keynesian economists include Paul Krugman and arguably, Greg Mankiw, Robert Reich Joseph Stiglitz and Axel Leijonhufvud. The works on Keynes of Hyman Minsky,[41] Robert Skidelsky,[42] Donald Markwell[43] and Axel Leijonhufvud[44] were widely cited. Much recent discussion reflected Keynes’s advocacy of international coordination of fiscal or monetary stimulus, and of international economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which he had helped to create at Bretton Woods in 1944, and which many argued should be reformed at a “new Bretton Woods”.[45] This was evident at the G20 and APEC meetings in Washington, D.C., and Lima, Peru, in November 2008, and in coordinated reductions of interest rates by many countries in November and December 2008. IMF and United Nations economists advocated a coordinated international approach to fiscal stimulus.[46]
Keynesian intervention was employed to aid US financial institutions by the creation of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) spearheaded by Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in October 2008. In reference to TARP injections of federal money into private enterprise, President Bush said: “To make sure the economy doesn’t collapse, I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.”[47] By the end of December 2008, the Financial Times reported that “the sudden resurgence of Keynesian policy is a stunning reversal of the orthodoxy of the past several decades” and that of all the modern economies “only Germany remains publicly sceptical that fiscal stimulus will work”[48] Keynesian thinking was also reflected in the appointment by U.S. President Barack Obama of Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, and Christina Romer to the principal economic positions in his administration. In a speech on 8 January 2009,[49] then President Elect Obama unveiled a plan for extensive domestic spending to combat recession (a stimulus package close to $1 trillion) thus further reflecting Keynesian thinking.
John Maynard Keynes – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
* Economic crisis dire, risk of unrest and war – IMF * Recovery depends on cleaning up bank balance sheets (Recasts, adds quotes, details, background) By Jonathan Lynn GENEVA, March 23 (Reuters) – The world is in a dire economic crisis, but no recovery is possible until the financial sector is cleaned up, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Monday. The crisis will push millions into poverty and unemployment, risking social unrest and even war, and urgent action is required, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. “Bluntly the situation is dire,” he told a meeting on the crisis at the International Labour Organisation, a United Nations agency representing unions, employers and governments that studies labour issues. Strauss-Kahn was talking less than two weeks before a summit of the G20 leading nations on April 2 to tackle the crisis. As the crisis spills over into developing countries, millions of people will be pushed back into poverty and hardship, Strauss-Kahn said. “All this will affect dramatically unemployment and beyond unemployment for many countries it will be at the roots of social unrest, some threat to democracy, and may be for some cases it can also end in war,” he said.
* Economic crisis dire, risk of unrest and war – IMF
* Recovery depends on cleaning up bank balance sheets
(Recasts, adds quotes, details, background)
By Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA, March 23 (Reuters) – The world is in a dire economic crisis, but no recovery is possible until the financial sector is cleaned up, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.
The crisis will push millions into poverty and unemployment, risking social unrest and even war, and urgent action is required, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
“Bluntly the situation is dire,” he told a meeting on the crisis at the International Labour Organisation, a United Nations agency representing unions, employers and governments that studies labour issues.
Strauss-Kahn was talking less than two weeks before a summit of the G20 leading nations on April 2 to tackle the crisis.
As the crisis spills over into developing countries, millions of people will be pushed back into poverty and hardship, Strauss-Kahn said.
“All this will affect dramatically unemployment and beyond unemployment for many countries it will be at the roots of social unrest, some threat to democracy, and may be for some cases it can also end in war,” he said.
UPDATE 1-IMF says clean up banks to tackle dire world crisis | Markets | Bonds News | Reuters
On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes–government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference. –Barack Obama, “Plan for a Healthy America: Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan” from barackobama.com If you already have insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance Members of Congress get for themselves. –Barack Obama, “Closing Argument” speech, Canton, Ohio, October 26, 2008 President-elect Obama, during the campaign you pledged to build a health care system in which Americans can be assured of access to affordable health insurance. You guaranteed Americans who already have insurance that nothing would change except that their coverage would be less expensive. You pointed to the health system that Members of Congress have as your model for expanding coverage. And you agreed that choice of doctor and care is a basic principle. These laudable themes struck a chord with Americans.
On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes–government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.
–Barack Obama, “Plan for a Healthy America: Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan” from barackobama.com
If you already have insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance Members of Congress get for themselves.
–Barack Obama, “Closing Argument” speech, Canton, Ohio, October 26, 2008
President-elect Obama, during the campaign you pledged to build a health care system in which Americans can be assured of access to affordable health insurance. You guaranteed Americans who already have insurance that nothing would change except that their coverage would be less expensive. You pointed to the health system that Members of Congress have as your model for expanding coverage. And you agreed that choice of doctor and care is a basic principle. These laudable themes struck a chord with Americans.
Ensuring Access to Affordable Health Insurance: A Memo to President-elect Obama
A Down Payment on Nationalization Trillion Dollars Down: In less than two months, the President has already budgeted nearly $1 TRILLION on his health care proposals—SCHIP, the stimulus, and now the budget. A Bottomless Well: President Obama’s FY 10 budget proposal offers a $634 billion “down payment” on health care reform. The only truth to this number is that it will continue to grow, and they openly admit it in the President’s budget proposal: “The budget calls for an effort beyond this down payment, to put the nation on a path to health insurance coverage for all Americans. However, additional funding will be needed.” Squeezing Water from a Stone: The President’s budget depends on typical liberal tax hikes while rearranging the deck chairs for Medicare and Medicaid to produce “savings.” There is only so much you can tax or squeeze before you hit rock bottom. Fast-Tracking a Flawed Process Taking Your Own Pulse: A bipartisan health care summit may be nice window dressing, but the test of real bipartisanship is found in policy, not in photo ops. So far on health care, the President’s promise for bipartisanship is more hope than change. Since January, President Obama has signed into law over $200 billion spending to advance his health care agenda—$136 billion alone on in the stimulus—with little, if any, notion of bipartisanship. Consolidated Power: To achieve his goals, President Obama’s health plan will need to depend on a massive top-down infrastructure to control health care dollars and decisions. Instead of empowering patients and doctors, Washington will be in charge. Loss of Private Coverage: At a time when Americans are worried about losing their health care, the promise of a new government health plan will only undermine the private health insurance that million of Americans depend on today. Not only do government programs cost more than they project, but they also promise more than they deliver. Real Health Care Solutions for America Consumer Choice: Give Americans the consumer-choice system available to Members of Congress as a true model, not as a façade for government-run health care. Take Bold Steps, Give States the Power: Allow states to experiment with better ways of reaching the nation’s health coverage goals rather than imposing a national plan on states and families. Be Bipartisan: In such areas as the tax treatment of health care, federal-state cooperation, and other critical pieces of health reform, there are thoughtful and well-developed approaches. Build on these important developments; do not ignore them.
A Down Payment on Nationalization
Fast-Tracking a Flawed Process
Real Health Care Solutions for America
Government Power and Control: The One Trillion Dollar Takeover of Health Care » The Foundry
In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society stagnates when independent productive achievers began to be socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments, even though society had been far more healthy and prosperous by allowing, encouraging and rewarding self-reliance and individual achievement. Independence and personal happiness flourished to the extent that people were free, and achievement was rewarded to the extent that individual ownership of private property was strictly respected. The hero, John Galt, lives a life of laissez-faire capitalism as the only way to live consistent with his beliefs. Atlas Shrugged portrays fascism, socialism and communism – any form of state intervention in society – as systemically and fatally flawed. Rand argues that independence and individual achievement enable society to survive and thrive, and should be embraced. But this requires a "rational" moral code. She argues that, over time, coerced self-sacrifice causes any society to self-destruct.
In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society stagnates when independent productive achievers began to be socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments, even though society had been far more healthy and prosperous by allowing, encouraging and rewarding self-reliance and individual achievement. Independence and personal happiness flourished to the extent that people were free, and achievement was rewarded to the extent that individual ownership of private property was strictly respected. The hero, John Galt, lives a life of laissez-faire capitalism as the only way to live consistent with his beliefs.
Atlas Shrugged portrays fascism, socialism and communism – any form of state intervention in society – as systemically and fatally flawed.
Rand argues that independence and individual achievement enable society to survive and thrive, and should be embraced. But this requires a "rational" moral code. She argues that, over time, coerced self-sacrifice causes any society to self-destruct.
Atlas Shrugged – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I’m still waiting for Obama to do something, anything, to stimulate the economy, rather than package up entitlements, public sector spending bumps, billions for ACORN, corporate welfare, and earmarks, call it ‘stimulus’ (although its the exact opposite of stimulus) and then jack up taxes (which is actually de-stimulating) to pay for it. Of course, we all assume he actually wants to improve the economy… fact is, he probably doesn’t- every new person on the expanded welfare rolls, and every new gov’t employee, will vote Democratic to secure their goodies.
I’m still waiting for Obama to do something, anything, to stimulate the economy, rather than package up entitlements, public sector spending bumps, billions for ACORN, corporate welfare, and earmarks, call it ‘stimulus’ (although its the exact opposite of stimulus) and then jack up taxes (which is actually de-stimulating) to pay for it.
Of course, we all assume he actually wants to improve the economy… fact is, he probably doesn’t- every new person on the expanded welfare rolls, and every new gov’t employee, will vote Democratic to secure their goodies.
The Numbers
From George in North Carolina:
Michelle Malkin » Tea Party photo album: Fiscal responsibility is the new counterculture
