Originally published on the CGS blog on September 15, 2009.
Today at the Brookings Institute Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke about the past year’s economic collapse. He spoke about the events in the United States and of the similar experiences across the world. In his statements he discussed the steps that regulators and the Federal Reserve took to slow the rate of decline and mitigate the effects of the downturn. However, he stressed the importance of the global response. He empathized how quickly the G7 finance ministers were able to reach a consensus on response principles. These principles included support for international financial institutions, inject public capital if needed, and securing deposits. He added that the global response was strong and-in his words-unprecedented. Chairman Bernanke noted that the domestic and international political will and capital was there to ensure that international cooperation was the focus. And this political will reduced the potential impact of the decline. Cooperation not competition will create a more sustainable financial system.
