Thread: German Finance Minister calls Fed "Clueless"; G20

Sunday, November 07, 2010

German Finance Minister calls Fed "Clueless"; G20 Showdown with China; Why Geithner's "Non-Plan" is Nothing but Hot Air

Outside the blogosphere and into realm of high ranking government officials, it is rare to hear words like "clueless" to describe the Fed. That such talk is now occurring shows just how upset the rest of the world is at Bernanke's policies.

Reuters reports US Policy 'Clueless': German Finance Minister. http://www.cnbc.com/id/40023267

Europe needs to strengthen economic governance and agree on a permanent crisis resolution mechanism, all the more so given current U.S. economic weakness, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday.

France and Germany should maintain their leadership role in Europe, Schaeuble said, especially in order to harmonise its economic policy and bolster stability given current economic uncertainties.

These are being worsened by reckless policy in part from the the United States, Schaeuble said, sharpening his criticism of the Federal Reserve's program to buy an additional $600 billion worth of U.S. government bonds. Pumping more money into the economy will not solve the country's problems, he said, adding that the world needed U.S. leadership that was currently lacking.

"With all due respect, U.S. policy is clueless," Schaeuble said. "(The problem) is not a shortage of liquidity. Late on Thursday, Schaeuble said Germany would take up this point critically with the United States both bilaterally and at next week's G20 summit of industrialised and emerging nations.

G20 Showdown

The Financial Times reports China tees up G20 showdown with US http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/03567a28-e8a3 ... z14YKNNFZJ

China has curtly dismissed a US proposal to address global economic imbalances, setting the stage for a potential showdown at next week’s G20 meeting in Seoul.

Cui Tiankai, a deputy foreign minister and one of China’s lead negotiators at the G20, said on Friday that the US plan for limiting current account surpluses and deficits to 4 per cent of gross domestic product harked back “to the days of planned economiesâ€

What really Sucks is these other countries think we Americans are out beggin' for this money. This President needs to sit there and keep his mouth shut. "Nah! we're good, thanks for askin"