U.S. President Appeals to G-20
In advance of the G-20 Summit next week in London, President Barack Obama wrote an op ed piece that ran in more than 30 newspapers. The piece appeals to other nations for action to correct the global economic crisis and gives a big-picture view of the effects countries have on each other.
Scope of Obama’s Op Ed
Obama’s op ed was published in major newspapers in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Gulf States and South America.
In the U.S., the piece was printed in the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Or you can read it at the Huffington Post.
Scope of the economic crisis
Obama begins his op ed by outlining the problems that economies worldwide are facing. He emphasizes that one nation alone cannot solve these problems. He makes two main calls to action: global leaders must jump-start recovery and they must prevent similar crises.
He recognizes that the flow of credit must be restored so businesses can secure capital and individuals can take out personal loans.
‘Ready to lead’
“The United States is ready to lead, and we call upon our partners to join us with a sense of urgency and common purpose,” Obama writes.
He says the U.S. will lead by example, taking bold action to “lift the American economy out of crisis and reform our regulatory structure.” He acknowledges that in order for these efforts to work, other countries must follow suit.
Getting specific
Obama explains in some detail how “the success of the American economy is inextricably linked to the global economy.”
“Already we’ve seen the biggest drop in American exports in nearly four decades, which has led directly to American job losses,” he writes. “… And if we continue to let financial institutions around the world act recklessly and irresponsibly, we will remain trapped in a cycle of bubble and bust.”
Throughout the piece, Obama repeats that it is important to break this cycle. He recognizes that recovery is only the first step, and keeping the ecdonomy stable once it has recovered will be an ongoing task.
He certainly has made a lot of promises, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of delivery yet. It’s going to take time, obviously, but he has authorized use of almost over a trillion dollars – that is a lot of money to throw around, and I hope that it works, because we’re going to be paying it off until the Universe explodes.