Summary

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin say the US is working to ease the global economic turmoil The two announced that interest rates will not be cut

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 254383
Story Slug HOUSE BANKING / ROBERT RUBIN, ALAN GREENSPAN (1998)
Location WASHINGTON, DC
Format TVD
Date 09/16/1998
Archive Time 55:10
TRT 6:48
Supers 1) Robert Rubin / Secretary of the Treasury 2) Alan Greenspan / Federal Reserve Chairman 3) Representative Bernard Sanders (Ind-VT)
Video Description House banking hearing
Description Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin say the US is working to ease the global economic turmoil The two announced that interest rates will not be cut
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) 00:01 In a manner unaffected by the mentality of the moment, while the fundamentals of the American economy remains strong, as a consequence of this crisis, we have seen substantial impacts in some sectors, particularly agriculture And we have seen corporate earnings in many areas be adversely affected Moreover, there was always the risk of broader effects As this crisis so clearly demonstrates, the well being of the United States is significantly impacted, and I would say inextricably linked to the economic well being of the rest of the world And that is precisely why we have been so intensely focused on this crisis since its beginning in Thailand, the most important for international assistance to be effective and for the IMF to be effective, it ultimately comes down to the country itself and its political system, working in such a way as to take ownership of reform We have all beginning The world has experienced over the past several years, a new period of enormous pressures, complexities and challenges in the global economy Many of the countries in crisis have deep underlying strengths And the key is for these countries to draw on those strengths to deal with their problems and get back on the track of stability and growth There are no easy answers There are no short answers, and it will require a tremendous amount of political will and cooperation in affected nations and in the industrial nations But I do know this for certain debts, 01:34 that creates the major risks to international stability The banking systems in many emerging emerging East Asian economies have effectively collapsed in the aftermath of inappropriate borrowing and large unhedged exposures in foreign currencies much will be required to bolster the fragile market mechanisms of many but certainly not all discussion Well, Mr Chairman, I think that I can safely say that at the moment, there is no endeavor to coordinate interest rate cuts, I will say this that we are in fairly extensive conversation amongst the GE 10 central bank governors And we are clearly exchanging views on all various different aspects of our economies, and our views of the overall international situation When Secretary Ruben Kerala comment, 02:45 not particularly 02:51 Central Bank, can we arrest any further devaluation? What can we do to help say, That's it, not just for Brasilia, but for Mercosur? etc, you know, 03:05 let me try to answer in a in a rather general way if I move way mister defaults Clearly, if you look at what we, the IMF, others of g7 have done over the last year in the face of all of this sound currencies have been absolutely critical for soundness of currency and have been critical in terms of an objective of our strategy And in many cases, we have, as you know, supported fixed fixed rate regimes On the other hand, the question of exactly what was the fault? The best answer I can give you is, Brazil has done a great deal with respect to reform What happens in Brazil is obviously enormous ly important to this country to United leverage Latin America but also to this country We have been very focused on this actually, for quite some time in particularly over the course of the past week I think it is probably premature to comment on specifics other than to assure you that this has been the subject of intense focus through last week, the weekend and up to the current moment Andrew Gridley have an enormous stake in Russia being successful for both not economic, but even more national security reasons And so it's been our view, I actually think we've been pretty realistic about the problem problems But we have waited very heavily our stake in success And so we've been willing to take substantial risks I can't read your mind 04:28 Your colleague quoted me earlier I just think it is not credible to perceive that we can remain the oasis of prosperity that we have been or for that matter, Europe, with the rest of the world under increasing stress So I think there's Vernay that despite the still very solid American economy as of now There are really the first signs of erosion at the edges especially in manufacturing, and to refer to the comments that the Secretary made very early on, we are beginning to see risk spreads As I said before, I think that the IMF really requires a fundamental review, and all of its aspects, but not now We need the structure of the IMF and its funding procedures, and its conditionality Because that's what we've got If you have to go to work in the morning, and all you've got is a bicycle And you think you want a limousine? A bicycle is better than nothing And it may be that the IMF has a bicycle, it will work, it will get us there He won't do it as well as I think it should in the future But failure to offer a 06:00 reckless deal The IMF has failed, and failed dismally, given the horrendous record of the IMF in making life worse for the people of Mexico, worse for the people of Asia, worse for the people of Russia, not to mention all of the austerity programs, and in Africa and Latin America and the misery that those programs have caused Why in God's name, would anyone want to continue along the incredible path of failure? That has been the record of the IMF, that to my mind, would be insane Mr Chairman, that's my view But let me mention to you
Not everything listed in the CONUS Archive is necessarily licensable Reporter sound/image is not licensable

Keywords

BERNIE SANDERS
}