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  • Geithner in Istanbul: Reform, Fiscal Stimulus Must Continue or Recovery Will be Halted

    Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner joined other G7 finance leaders in Istanbul to tell members of The Institute of International Finance --representing many of the world's largest bank--that reform is a necessary component of recovery, and to expect "sweeping changes," according to a Reuters report . Reuters quotes Geithner as telling bankers, "We're not going to adopt an approach that does stuff at the margin, and delays any changes that help preserve a bunch of practices that helped make this crisis much more damaging than it otherwise would have been." Geithner also stressed the need to continue fiscal stimulus, as The Wall Street Journal's Andy Jordan and Bob Davis report below:
  • G20 Leaders' Pledges to Restore Global Growth and Prevent Future Global Economic Crises

    The Group of 20 leaders have wrapped up their London Summit , and have released an outline of shared goals (see below). The pre-meeting chatter was all about calls from some quarters to focus on regulatory measures over stimulus. In the end, they decided to pursue both. They have pledged $1 trillion dollars in stimulus funds for the IMF and The World Bank, and say they will pursue tighter regulation of financial institutions and punitive measures for so-called tax havens. The meeting featured a relatively concilatory tone. And President Obama pointed to that tone in his press conference, calling the meeting a "turning point" : Today we’ve learned the lessons of history. I know that, in the days leading up to the summit, some of you in the press, some commentators, confused honest and open debate with irreconcilable differences. But after weeks of preparation and two days of careful negotiation, we have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this from happening again. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the host of the summit. Here are excerpts from his closing press conference: In their closing Leaders' Statement , the summit participants made a series of pledges. And for those of you keeping score at home, here they are: · restore confidence, growth, and jobs; · repair the financial system to restore lending; · strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust; · fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones; · promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and · build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery. As the statement reads, "By acting together to fulfill these pledges we will bring the world economy out of recession and prevent a crisis like this from recurring in the future." You can read the full statement here . For more detail from the conference organizers, go to the London Summit website .