Posted on 12/15/2011 4:40:54 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011
Time for IMF to save Europe
By LAURENCE H. SUMMERS
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — European leaders met last week for yet another "historic" summit at which the fate of Europe is said to hang in the balance. Yet it is clear that this will not be the last one convened to deal with the financial crisis.
Given that Europe is the largest component of the global economy, the rest of the world has a stake in helping to avoid major financial accidents. It also has a stake in aiding continued growth in Europe and ensuring that the European financial system supports investment around the world — particularly as cross-border European bank lending dwarfs that of banks from any other region.
Now is also a historic juncture for the International Monetary Fund. The focus of the policy response to the crisis must shift from Brussels and Frankfurt to the IMF's boardroom.
From the problems of Britain and Italy in the 1970s, through the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the Mexican, Asian and Russian financial crises of the 1990s, the IMF has operated by twinning the provision of liquidity with strong requirements that those involved do what is necessary to restore their financial positions to sustainability. There is ample room for debate about precise policy choices the fund has made. But the IMF has consistently stood for the proposition that the laws of economics do not and will not give way to political considerations. At key points the IMF has offered prescriptions, not just for countries in need of funds but also for those whose success is systemically important for the global economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at japantimes.co.jp ...
P!
Like hell. There’s a better reason to walk away…To preserve your democracy, to secure your independence, to keep fast the freedoms you inherited from your parents and to pass them on intact to your children.....
Does anyone still respect the financial advice of this proven loooooooser?
And the ruling class is demanding that American taxpayers subsidize this kind of behavior.....
I frequently confuse Larry Summers and Larry Sinclair.
I would rather take economic advice from Larry the Cable Guy than Larry Summers.
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