25/02/2009

In his column for the New York Times Thomas L. Friedman said: `all eyes are on Washington to pull the world out of its economic tailspin ... and at no time in the last 50 years has the world ever seen us as more important.’ Friedman remarked that much of the criticism regarding America's dominating presence on the world stage had diminished, as `most people recognize that only an economically revitalized America has the power to prevent the world economy from going into a global depression.’

24/02/2009

The Washington Post reports on the front page of the business section that the global economic crisis is 'fast depleting IMF reserves' as the World Bank warns 'that if wealthier countries in Europe fail to help Eastern Europe, economic and political gains made in the region since the fallof the Soviet Union could be erased.' It says the call by leaders of the European members of the G20 to double the IMF’s resources to $500bn comes in anticipation of added strain on the IMF as ‘additional countries are expected to turn to the IMF for help as the crisis deepens’.

23/02/2009

Examining the Berlin summit of European G20 countries, the Washington Post says that the leaders 'were seeking to adopt a common European negotiating strategy' for the G20 summit, had agreed on seven points, including restrictions on hedge funds and other private pools of capital that have gone largely unregulated around the world.

19/02/2009

Writing for The American Prospect website, Matthew Yglesias says 'the world needs a coordinated response to the current economic crisis, in which each country commits to undertake stimulus that's appropriate to the size of its economy and to its position in the global balance of trade.' Yglesias adds 'global coordination of this sort would be difficult to undertake. Indeed, it would largely be unprecedented. But the economic crisis is also without precedent.'

17/02/2009

In her Washington Post column, Anne Applebaum says whatever 'their ideology, and whatever their credentials, most of the pundits, historians and economists who debate the Great Depression agree about one thing: Whatever may have caused the crisis, protectionism, trade barriers and, yes, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, helped to ensure that it lasted as long as it did.' She goes on to warn that the 'real story' would be the 'spread of more carefully camouflaged protectionism: measures, some legal, some not, designed to help one nation's workers or companies at the expense of those next door'.

12/02/09

The Wall Street Journal reports that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner 'is expected to give the G7a more detailed outline of the Obama administration's approach' when he meets with G7 finance ministers in Rome on Friday,

The Journal adds: 'he is expected to encourage his G7 counterparts to take bold action, according to a senior Treasury official.'

11/02/09

Economic issues featured prominently in US media reporting, with negotiations on a proposed economic stimulus package continuing on Capitol Hill.

Questioned on Buy American proposals as part of the stimulus package, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated that while the US retained strong Buy American laws, such provisions should be done 'in a way so as not to spark a larger trade disagreement at a time of economic peril.'