US President Barack Obama urged fellow leaders yesterday to agree swift action at next month’s G20 summit to spur global recovery.
His call came one day after Washington unveiled a plan to soak up toxic assets plaguing credit markets.
In an article for German newspaper Die Welt, Obama called for an agreement on stimulus measures at the April 2 meeting in London which he said could revive economic growth.
“First, we must take quick measures to stimulate growth,” Obama wrote, according to the German translation of his comments.
The US and Europe have been at odds over whether more spending was needed on top of what governments have already adopted, with many Europeans arguing the stress should now shift to strengthening market regulation.
But Obama suggested it was too early to close the taps with public funds.
“If the London summit contributes towards immediately initiating joint measures, we can smooth the path for a secure recovery and prevent future crises,” he wrote.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday detailed a raft of incentives for private investors to buy up to as much as US$1 trillion of troubled assets that have strangled global debt markets and pushed the world economy into its worst slump since the 1930s.
By bringing in private investors, the US government hopes finally to establish prices for the assets that have languished on banks’ books and constricted the flow of credit.
Relief that the details of a long-awaited scheme were finally out and hopes that it will attract enough buyers to unclog credit markets spurred a stock market rally. But analysts poring over the plan’s details wondered whether the scheme would reach a critical mass to spur economic recovery and some highlighted its lopsided nature — the potential for profits for private investors and the brunt of potential losses being borne by the taxpayer.
Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman slammed Geithner’s plan in his Monday column. He said it was a rehash of a “cash-for-trash” proposal the Bush administration floated last fall, and that the incentives meant investors could profit if asset values increase but “walk away” if they fall.
Meanwhile, Obama is urging a more tempered response to public furor over bonuses paid to executives of the publicly rescued insurance giant American International Group (AIG). He was virtually certain to use a televised news conference last night to continue an effort that began over the weekend: cooling the anti-AIG ferocity that threatens to undermine his efforts to bail out the financial sector.
Also See: AIG employees to return US$50 million
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
RSS