George Bush Hosted Financial Summit

Talk About An Oxymoron

November 17. 2008

George Bush

I certainly did not fail to see the irony of President George W. Bush hosting the summit of world leaders this weekend, where the topic of discussion was how to remedy the world's financial ills. I find it ironic, as Bush's policies are what created this colossal financial mess in the first place, with foreign corporations helping to bankroll what they thought to be safe financial instruments, which were anything but. What could Bush possibly have to contribute in this arena at this late juncture, after years of wantonly ignoring sound economic advice.

It's like going to group therapy regarding a trauma you've sustained, with the person that injured you sitting right beside you during the session. Bush will be remembered as the president that brought America down. I don't envy those that are tasked with cleaning up the mess that shall be left behind. The summit would have been better off with the president-elect, as that is who nations will be dealing with in the coming years, God willing. However, another summit is planned for April 2009.

World leaders show unity, vow to do no harm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bretton Woods II it was not, but world leaders achieved a crucial show of unity at their summit to confront recession, promising to revamp the global economic order and remain firmly wedded to free trade. Old Cold War rivals from the West and former Communist East publicly tied their economic fates together on Saturday and gave themselves until April to hammer out concrete reforms.

"The real value of getting these countries together is to say that they won't do any harm, rather than they will do something for the collective good," said Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. Leaders vowed to use fiscal policy, as well as interest rate cuts in countries that still had room to ease, to offset the steepest global economic slowdown in decades...

http://www.reuters.com