Bankers defiant at Davos World Economic Forum

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Dus hebben coöperaties een gouden toekomst ;)

Groet / Cees

Antid Oto wrote:
> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>
> Bankers defiant at Davos World Economic Forum
> 4 February 2010
>
> Two years on from the biggest financial crisis to strike world
> capitalism since the 1930s, leading international bankers made clear
> at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that they
> will resist any attempts to reign in the speculative practices that
> have led to governments running up unprecedented levels of debt and
> the loss of tens of millions of jobs.
>
> The warning signs of a “double-dip” recession, trade war and the
> bankruptcy of entire countries formed the backdrop to the annual Davos
> proceedings, where the world’s leading bankers and CEOs have discussed
> their business strategies with top politicians and economists for the
> past 40 years.
>
> The fears of impending trade war between the US and China were stoked
> by comments in Davos from Larry Summers, the chief economic adviser to
> President Obama. In a panel discussion with Zhu Min, deputy minister
> of China’s central bank, Summers attacked China’s trade and monetary
> policies and warned that the US was prepared to respond by stepping up
> its protectionist measures.
>
> Pointing out the consequences of the huge sums of money pumped into
> the economy by governments around the world, Harvard University
> economics professor Kenneth Rogoff bluntly declared that for those in
> their 30s, “It will be terrible for you.” Addressing the huge
> indebtedness of the German economy, Rogoff told a young German at the
> forum that Germany’s debt was exploding and there was no alternative
> to austerity measures and significant tax increases. “It will be very,
> very painful,” Rogoff added.
>
> The reaction of bankers at the conference to the catastrophic results
> of their own activities was to unite in defense of their profits and
> multimillion-dollar bonuses. The most important lesson drawn by the
> lords of international finance from the events of the past two years
> is that they can rely on the unconditional support of their respective
> governments to bail them out.
>
> This was summed up in a debate between Carlyle Group LP co-founder
> David Rubenstein and New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini.
> Rubenstein said, “We’ve gone through a bit of a heart attack and heart
> attacks are not fatal so much anymore, so we’ve learned a lot.”
>
> The lesson for Rubenstein is that as a result of government backing,
> speculative opportunities have never been so good. He declared that
> now is a “pretty attractive” time to invest, and boasted that the
> deals his investment group had sealed in 2009 “will prove to be the
> best deals we have made this decade.”
>
> One of the main points of discussion at the Davos meeting were
> proposals to regulate certain activities of the banking sector, such
> as those put forward recently by Obama. Bankers are well aware that
> such proposals leave untouched whole areas of speculative trading and
> are mainly for public consumption. As one US commentator noted, any
> proposals for curbing the activities of the banks “have about as much
> chance of getting through Congress as politicians have of getting into
> heaven.”
>
> The Davos conference began with a speech by French President Nicholas
> Sarkozy, who raised the issue of international regulation of the
> banks. Sarkozy criticised the greed of bankers, expressed agreement
> with the Obama’s administration’s proposal to ban proprietary trading
> by commercial banks, and called for a new Bretton Woods
> system—referring to the international agreements that anchored US
> economic supremacy at the end of the Second World War. Sarkozy was at
> pains to stress that his priority was to save capitalism, not bury it.
>
> The French president’s bluster is taken with a large grain of salt by
> financial figures. When asked for his reaction to Sarkozy’s remarks
> and Obama’s proposals, Jacko Maree, CEO of the US-based Standard Bank,
> replied that “a lot of those proposals are politically appealing, but
> practically unlikely to happen.”
>
> The bankers’ offensive at Davos was led by Josef Ackermann, the chief
> executive of Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, and by Peter
> Sands, CEO of Standard Chartered, one of Britain’s biggest banks.
>
> Ackermann told the audience at a panel discussion that it was time to
> stop playing “the blame game.” In a barely concealed threat that major
> banks might further reduce their lending, Ackermann warned, “If you
> don’t have a strong financial sector to support this recovery … you’re
> making a huge mistake and you will regret it later on.”
>
> Ackermann’s comments were echoed by Sands. When asked whether he
> supported measures to break up banks that are currently deemed by
> governments to be “too big to fail,” Sands responded, “The unambiguous
> answer is no.”
>
> During the conference, Ackermann took part in a meeting of bank CEOs
> to discuss a common strategy to repulse any limits on their
> activities. On Saturday, he and other leading bankers met for
> confidential discussions with the finance ministers of France and
> Britain, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, and IMF
> Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Also present was US
> Congressman Barney Frank, who heads the House Financial Services
> Committee.
>
> While refusing to reveal any details of the talks, Ackermann praised
> the spirit of cooperation that prevailed, declaring, “There was better
> dialogue between business leaders, political and regulatory leaders
> than ever before.”
>
> Two days after the Davos forum, the German Federal Financial
> Supervisory Authority lifted the ban on short selling in Germany. This
> particular form of speculation was banned by the German regulatory
> authority in September 2008 following the outbreak of the
> international financial crisis.
>
> The level of arrogance displayed by the bankers in Davos is matched
> only by their contempt for a political caste that is fully subservient
> to their demands. The private discussions at Davos made clear that any
> measures drawn up by capitalist governments to regulate banking
> activities will be little more than window dressing.
>
> The past two years have revealed the enormous political influence and
> socially destructive role of the banks and major financial
> institutions. A deepening social catastrophe can be prevented only by
> the expropriation of the financial oligarchs and conversion of the
> banks into public utilities, under the democratic control of the
> working class, as part of the transformation of world economy on
> socialist foundations.
>
> Stefan Steinberg
>
> http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/pers-f04.shtml
>
> **********
> Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
> Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
> Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
> Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
> **********
>

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********