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Americano
Feb 21st 2009, 08:03 PM
Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51K0A920090221) wrote: Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"
Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:26pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."

His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to President Barack Obama.

Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain.

"I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world," Volcker said.

(Reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Juan Lagorio; Editing by Gary Hill)

Americano
Feb 21st 2009, 09:08 PM
Sorry for the omission of opinion, It says what I think.

Michael
Feb 22nd 2009, 07:56 PM
:eek:

That's worse news than I've been reading. I've always had great respect for Soros... he really seems to know what's going on and isn't afraid to say it - and he was an early one to turn sour on derivatives and the whole 'securitization' fad.

Nourini (the economist who was one of the accurate forcasters of the present mess) has also been sounding very, very gloomy lately.

Americano
Feb 22nd 2009, 08:21 PM
:eek:

That's worse news than I've been reading. I've always had great respect for Soros... he really seems to know what's going on and isn't afraid to say it - and he was an early one to turn sour on derivatives and the whole 'securitization' fad.

Nourini (the economist who was one of the accurate forcasters of the present mess) has also been sounding very, very gloomy lately.

Neither he nor Volcker have ever been known as shrinking violets when it comes to saying what they think. And what they think regarding economics is normally spot-on.

I find it amusing to read their opinions and then read some of the forums where posters are claiming all it would take to turn things around is tax cuts so the wealthy can invest in US businesses and create jobs.

Michael
Feb 23rd 2009, 09:47 AM
Neither he nor Volcker have ever been known as shrinking violets when it comes to saying what they think. And what they think regarding economics is normally spot-on.

I find it amusing to read their opinions and then read some of the forums where posters are claiming all it would take to turn things around is tax cuts so the wealthy can invest in US businesses and create jobs.
The absurdity of that is the fact that the US presently has the lowest corporate and capital gains taxes RIGHT NOW than it has had in the last 30 years.

If tax cuts actually stimulated economic activity, the US economy would be humming in high gear right now after 8 consecutive years of tax-cutting from Washington.

Reality is that tax cuts just reduce government revenues causing deficits. Plain and simple.

Americano
Feb 23rd 2009, 10:24 AM
The absurdity of that is the fact that the US presently has the lowest corporate and capital gains taxes RIGHT NOW than it has had in the last 30 years.

If tax cuts actually stimulated economic activity, the US economy would be humming in high gear right now after 8 consecutive years of tax-cutting from Washington.

Reality is that tax cuts just reduce government revenues causing deficits. Plain and simple.

And contribute to capital flight.