Although he is right on most counts, it gives us an uneasy feeling that statists around the globe smell blood in the water. Its tough enough worrying about domestic threats to freedom like the Republicans and Democrats.
Would you care to order more rope, Mr. Lenin?
Medvedev Raises Specter of Depression, Faults U.S.
By Lyubov Pronina and Sebastian Alison
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said ``economic egoism'' has led to what may be the worst economic contraction since the depression of the 1930s, and placed some of the blame on the U.S.
The Russian leader said no single country, even the U.S., can reverse the global economic decline alone, and claimed a role for Russia in finding a solution.
``An underestimation of risks by the largest financial companies together with the aggressive financial policy of the world's largest economy led not only to corporate losses; unfortunately, the majority of people on the planet became poorer,'' Medvedev said in St. Petersburg.
Medvedev was speaking at the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia's largest trade and investment fair, held in his hometown for a 12th year. Officials expect the event to match the $12 billion worth of deals signed last year.
``For global financial markets, 2007 was one of the hardest years in recent decades and, if experts are to be believed, the most complicated since the Great Depression of the 1930s,'' Medvedev said.
`No Levers'
The Russian president said the global institutions responsible for financial regulation had ``no levers'' to counteract ``economic nationalism,'' when countries' ``pragmatic interests'' give way to ``political concerns.''
``The modern world is already globalized. And in such conditions, mistakes in the policies of individual countries, not to mention national egoism, immediately affect the situation in the entire global economy,'' he said.
``The disparity between the formal role of the U.S. in the world economic system and its real potential is one of the main reasons for the current crisis,'' Medvedev said. ``As strong as the U.S. market is, and as reliable as the U.S. financial system is, they aren't capable of replacing global goods and financial markets.''
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, attending the forum, said he didn't think Medvedev had singled out the U.S. for criticism.
`Global Player'
``It's a very good point,'' Gutierrez told reporters. ``I brought up an example of economic egoism when I talked about the Doha round of negotiations for the WTO,'' he said, referring to talks on the World Trade Organization. ``We could help food prices to come down. We could help 500 million people to get out of poverty. Every country has to make some sacrifices.''
Medvedev said Russia's economic strength makes it a ``global player'' that should play a role in reviving the world economy.
``We want to take part in establishing new rules of the game,'' he said. Among the changes needed in the ``global financial architecture,'' Medvedev called for better coordination between regulatory agencies, an enhanced role for ratings services, more transparent accounting standards and an ``effective system for promoting rational behavior.'' (Sounds like everyone wants a piece of the New World Order - Jesse)
Business leaders from more than 400 Russian and foreign companies are attending the forum, including representatives of oil companies such as BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, technology companies including Microsoft Corp., and food giants such as Nestle SA and Kraft Foods Inc.
Economic Growth
``Contracts worth $12 billion were signed last year. I think this year it will be no less than that,'' Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said in comments confirmed by his spokeswoman, Yulia Rybalchenko.
The St. Petersburg forum only took off last year, after then-President Vladimir Putin put pressure on Russian businesses not to attend a rival gathering in London and to come to the domestic forum instead.
During Putin's eight-year presidency, which ended last month, Russia's economy grew nearly five-fold, from about 7 trillion rubles in 2000 to almost 33 trillion rubles by the end of last year. The country is basking in a boom fuelled by high oil and natural gas prices, making the forum a major draw for the world's business leaders.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lyubov Pronina in St. Petersburg at lpronina@bloomberg.net; Sebastian Alison in Moscow at Salison1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: June 7, 2008 09:50 EDT
