Monday, August 15, 2011

The World Bank Speaks

Robert Zoellick, the head of the World Bank, has warned that markets have been pushed into a new danger zone that policy makers have to take seriously.

Speaking at the Asia Society dinner in Sydney, Zoellick said, "What's happened in the past couple of weeks is there is a convergence of some events in Europe and the United States that has led many market participants to lose confidence in economic leadership of some of the key countries."

alJazeera

Nicely put.

"I think those events combined with some of the other fragilities in the nature of recovery have pushed us into a new danger zone," he said.

"I don't say those words lightly ... so that policymakers recognise and take it seriously for what it is."

They sound kind of light and dance-y, because we have a counterweight to our ears.

World stocks climbed further out of their August hole on Monday, lifted by signs of earlier-than-expected recovery in Japan and a growing belief that shares may now be cheap.

”Climbed out of their hole.” That’s a nice picture. Zoellick should take notes.

On the US, Zoellick said it was not fears that the world's biggest economy faced an imminent problem, but "frankly that markets are used to the United States playing a key role in the economic system and leadership".

He said the US government needed to extend cuts from discretionary spending to programmes such as social security.

Oh, there it is. Plainly.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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