Bill Clinton to U.S., Europe: quit bickering over spending

[MindMover]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. and European politicians are squabbling over austerity measures to resolve deep-seated economic problems, but instead need to set aside entrenched views and take a longer-term approach to find real solutions, former President Bill Clinton told a financial conference.

In Europe, the key to battling its economic malaise is in taking the long view: promoting growth instead of a current plan to pare debt by cutting spending and raising taxes, Clinton told the Milken Institute Global Conference.

"The prescription of austerity continues to be pushed in the face of evidence that it won't work," said the president who held office before George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He called on leaders in both Europe and the United States to work on a strategy "of what would work in a five-year period, a 10-year period, instead of three or six months."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/03/us-economy-billclinton-idUSBRE84201Q20120503

[MindMover]

1. I say go for a Western nation financial summit meeting....

with Bill Clinton and Paul Krugman in leadership roles.....

[freshwest]

2. +1. I hope they listen to him. He was popular there at one time.

[unkachuck]

3. "The prescription of austerity continues to be pushed in the face of evidence that it won't work,"

....I like where he's coming from but I wish he'd take a little responsibility and apologize for signing the repeal of Glass-Steagall....

[marmar]

5. Very true.....

He can't wash his hands of this suicidal neoliberal ideology that's spread around the world like a plague.

[MindMover]

6. If all your advisors and wally street are screaming, if you do this then....

the economy and everyone will benefit.....

[sendero]

13. And giving China.

... carte blanch to wreck our economy with no reciprocation whatsoever.

[dkf]

4. Good grief...is he saying we need to help?

[MindMover]

7. We already have, but I believe everyone is on the same ship.....

[dkf]

10. We haven't been providing direct support to provide funds to countries so they can keep spending.

Not in any significant amounts at least. We've just been proving dollars through the central bank relationships.

Unless you know something I don't.

[MindMover]

12. Here are the amounts as of 2010......there is more in 11,12

According to the GAO audit, $16.1 trillion in secret loans were made by the Federal Reserve between December 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010. The following list of firms and the amount of money that they received was taken directly from page 131 of the GAO audit report....

Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
"All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion

This report was made available to all the members of Congress, but most of them have been totally silent about it. One of the only members of Congress that has said something has been U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

The following is an excerpt from a statement about this audit that was taken from the official website of Senator Sanders....

"As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world"

[pscot]

8. What's Milken's role in this

I always thought he got a raw deal. He went to jail for stuff that's legal now.

[antigop]

9. um, Bill - you're part of the problem - repeal of Glass-Steagall, signing CFMA

http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/history-altering-decisions/clinton-signs-securities-legislation.html

When it entered the world in the final days of 2000, almost no one cared a jot about the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. In hindsight, the CFMA turned out to be one of the most momentous pieces of legislation passed during the entire Clinton administration—and one of the darkest spots on the record of Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. It began with a simple question: who should regulate derivatives, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the Securities and Exchange Commission? By answering “none of the above,” the CFMA essentially deregulated the entire derivatives market, including energy derivatives, as abused by Enron, and credit-default swaps, which allowed AIG Financial Products to binge on unlimited amounts of risk. Enron became the largest corporate fraud in history (and any Californian will be able to tell you about the consequences for energy prices in the state, which were pegged to market prices being manipulated by Enron traders), while AIG’s bailout cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars that were desperately needed elsewhere. But the most invidious effect of the CFMA wasn’t so much financial as political. It marked the point at which Washington became completely captured by Wall Street. Those who opposed the act were ousted; those who pushed it through, rewarded. Financial laws still can’t get passed unless and until the banks want them enacted. And we’re all suffering the consequences.

[dkf]

11. The european banking system is much larger than ours. Why are you blaming Clinton?

They have their own banking rules, their own accounting laws, their own benefits, etc.

Wow now Clinton is responsible for the entire world financial system?