Time to Rein in Global Finance

Since William Greider is in the news and on radio with his new book "The Soul of Capitalism", I thought I'd post this older article about global finance. It is a further extention of some of his ideas presented in the new book. It covers the Bretton Woods System in more detail than his newer work. I think this article quite important for lay people's understanding.

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Time to Rein in Global Finance
by William Greider

The financial crisis that collapsed Asian economies in mid-1997 and then bounced around the world was a distant sideshow to most Americans until it reached Wall Street. One year later, when Russia defaulted and Brazil was engulfed by the investor panic, US financial markets plunged too, and some major American banks and brokerages were at risk (as a result of lending billions to such magical schemes as Long-Term Capital Management, the wildly overleveraged hedge fund that went bust). The Federal Reserve rushed to the fire, supervised a forgiving bailout for Long-Term Capital and swiftly cut interest rates three times to restore confidence. The giddy boom resumed, but the US establishment was rattled. Led by the President, important voices from financial and academic circles began to talk earnestly about the need to reform the global financial system. "A new international financial architecture," they called it. ...Article Continued