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"A Way To Hell"

Mike

Well-known member
EU presidency: US economic plans 'a way to hell'
Czech premier, currently European Union president, calls US economic measures 'a way to hell'
Raf Casert, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday March 25, 2009, 9:10 am EDT
STRASBOURG, France (AP) -- A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

A day after his government collapsed because of a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, Topolanek took the EU presidency on a collision course with Washington over how to deal with the global economic recession.

Most European leaders favor tighter financial regulation, while the U.S. has been pushing for larger economic stimulus plans.

Topolanek's comments are the strongest criticism so far from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc bristles from recent U.S. criticism that it is not spending enough to stimulate demand.

They also pave the way for a stormy summit next week in London between leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized countries.

The host of the summit, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, praised Obama on Tuesday for his willingness to work with Europe on reforming the global economy in the run-up to the G-20 summit.

The United States plans to spend heavily to try and lift its economy out of recession with a $787 billion economic stimulus plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending.

To encourage banks to lend again, the government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the "toxic assets" -- devalued and untradeable assets -- from banks' balance sheets.

Topolanek bluntly said that "the United States did not take the right path.".

He slammed the U.S.' widening budget deficit and protectionist trade measures -- such as the "Buy America" -- and said that "all of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell."

"We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way," he said.

"Americans will need liquidity to finance all their measures and they will balance this with the sale of their bonds but this will undermine the stability of the global financial market," said Topolanek.

Obama insisted Tuesday that his massive budget proposal is moving the nation down the right path and will help the ailing economy grow again. "This budget is inseparable from this recovery," he said, "because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."

Obama also claimed early progress in his aggressive campaign to lead the United States out of its worst economic crisis in 70 years and declared that despite obstacles ahead, the U.S. is "moving in the right direction."

AP Business Writer Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this report
 

TSR

Well-known member
Mike said:
EU presidency: US economic plans 'a way to hell'
Czech premier, currently European Union president, calls US economic measures 'a way to hell'
Raf Casert, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday March 25, 2009, 9:10 am EDT
STRASBOURG, France (AP) -- A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

A day after his government collapsed because of a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, Topolanek took the EU presidency on a collision course with Washington over how to deal with the global economic recession.

Most European leaders favor tighter financial regulation, while the U.S. has been pushing for larger economic stimulus plans.

Topolanek's comments are the strongest criticism so far from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc bristles from recent U.S. criticism that it is not spending enough to stimulate demand.

They also pave the way for a stormy summit next week in London between leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized countries.

The host of the summit, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, praised Obama on Tuesday for his willingness to work with Europe on reforming the global economy in the run-up to the G-20 summit.

The United States plans to spend heavily to try and lift its economy out of recession with a $787 billion economic stimulus plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending.

To encourage banks to lend again, the government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the "toxic assets" -- devalued and untradeable assets -- from banks' balance sheets.

Topolanek bluntly said that "the United States did not take the right path.".

He slammed the U.S.' widening budget deficit and protectionist trade measures -- such as the "Buy America" -- and said that "all of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell."

"We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way," he said.

"Americans will need liquidity to finance all their measures and they will balance this with the sale of their bonds but this will undermine the stability of the global financial market," said Topolanek.

Obama insisted Tuesday that his massive budget proposal is moving the nation down the right path and will help the ailing economy grow again. "This budget is inseparable from this recovery," he said, "because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."

Obama also claimed early progress in his aggressive campaign to lead the United States out of its worst economic crisis in 70 years and declared that despite obstacles ahead, the U.S. is "moving in the right direction."

AP Business Writer Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this report

"A day after his gov. collapsed because of a parliamentary vote of no confidence" :???:
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
Vote of no confidence usually involves the entire government, not just an individual. Israel seems to have one about every year. Guess folks can't complain about never getting to vote tho. :lol:
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Only nine months ago, when he addressed an estimated 200,000 people in Germany, Barack Obama was heralded as "president of the world."

But now that he's president of the United States, the world doesn't appear to be following up on its endorsement.

From France to Poland, from the Czech Republic to China, many nations are rebuffing the president and offering little wiggle room for him to negotiate economic and security policies.

Obama faces his first major international test next week when the world's largest economies meet at the G20 summit in London.

"I think as the president heads to Europe, he faces a huge public relations disaster," said Nile Gardiner, director of the conservative Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.

"Europe is increasingly turning against his massive spending plans, which most European leaders see as a destructive way to move forward for the global economy and will only add to a massive American debt burden," Gardiner told FOXNews.com.

"At the same time, there is a growing impression across Europe that the Obama administration is inept and inefficient and increasingly poorly managed."

A top European Union politician on Wednesday slammed Obama's plans for the U.S. to spend its way out of recession as "a way to hell."

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who lost a confidence vote in his own parliament this week and whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."

That followed concerns by Poland that the U.S., as a way to appease Russia, plans to bail out of a missile defense shield the Bush administration negotiated with Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Russian generals, and even the Russian president, still continues to threaten us with the deployment of medium-range missiles in our immediate vicinity," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., in Brussels on Sunday. "So we signed with the previous administration. We patiently wait for the decision of the new administration and we hope we don't regret our trust in the United States."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/25/global-recession-tests-obamas-popularity-world-leaders/
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Pimco: Fed Should Double Debt to $6 Trillion

Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:00 AM

Bond giant Pacific Investment Management Co said the Federal Reserve needs to double its balance sheet up to $6 trillion to replace the amount of wealth destroyed in the United States, an executive said on Thursday.


Liabilities on the Fed's balance sheet should rise to between $5 trillion and $6 trillion later this year amid the financial crisis that roiled global markets, said Brian Baker, chief executive Pimco Asia Ltd.


"Right now, the Fed has spent about $3 trillion. We believe there has to be further stimulus policies put in place," Baker told Reuters.


The central bank's aggressive unconventional policy measures to revive dormant credit markets have pushed its balance sheet above $2 trillion in mid-March, according to data released by the Federal Reserve.


Central banks across the United States, Asia and Europe have lowered their interest rates aggressively since late 2008 as part of broader efforts to bolster the global economy, fanning hopes rates will continue to stay low for years.


"In developed markets, interest rate policy is pretty much as low as it can go," he said. "We believe short-term rates in developed markets are going to be near zero for several years."


Pimco is a unit of Allianz Global Investors, which managed about $970 billion in client assets at the end of 2008 and says it is the world's biggest fund house.


Pimco's chief investment officer Bill Gross is one of the industry's most widely watched figures.


Pimco is buying high-yield bonds in some U.S. banks that have received government support.


"We are investing in Citibank. We are investing in Bank of America. Those are, we believe, national champion banks or financial institutions that will survive," he said.


The asset manager is also buying corporate and government bonds of South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines.


Pimco is underweight emerging markets after cutting its exposure recently, Baker said.
 

Mike

Well-known member
Pimco clearly has a stake in bail-out money. :roll:

3:14 PM, September 7, 2008
Bill Gross, the bond market guru at investment giant Pimco in Newport Beach, told my colleague Peter G. Gosselin on Saturday that he wanted to "see the money" in a federal rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

So how does $200 billion sound? I asked Gross today.

"We like it," he said. "We think it’s a positive step."

Gross has been agitating for months for a bigger federal role in bailing out the sinking housing market. He acknowledges his critics, who say he’s "talking his book": Because Pimco is a huge investor in mortgage-backed bonds of Fannie and Freddie, the firm and its mutual funds stand to benefit now that the government is stepping in to assure that the companies stay solvent. Pimco also will be helped as the Treasury begins to buy mortgage-backed bonds in the open market.

But Gross has asserted that the feds needed to act for the greater good of the economy and the financial system, not just for the continued health of his Pimco Total Return bond fund, the world’s largest. The $130-billion-asset fund is up 3.5% this year, ranking it in the 96th percentile for performance among bond funds.

Gross said he believed that the Treasury’s rescue plan would go a long way toward improving sentiment in the financial and housing markets.

For the financial system, "The Category 4 hurricane has been downgraded to a tropical storm," he said.

He predicts that mortgage rates will fall this week as the rates that Fannie and Freddie pay to borrow money begin to decline.

He also expects the stock market overall to rally Monday.

And Gross has revised his estimate of how much more of a decline is in store for home prices. He had been expecting average home prices nationwide to fall an additional 10% to 15%. With Fannie and Freddie preserved, he sees prices bottoming after a further decline of 5% to 10%.

But that isn’t his forecast for California, where market conditions are much worse and likely to stay that way, he said.
 
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