Pauls Raudseps on the first anniversary of the financial crisis

Pauls Raudseps recalls in the daily Diena the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank on September 15, 2008: "Not only was it one of the oldest and most respected finance institutions on Wall Street. Its collapse also sparked a global financial crisis whose repercussions could well be more serious and more lasting than the attack on the World Trade Center. Many were already announcing in the second half of September 2008 that this was the end of capitalism and life as we knew it. Prior to that the global economies had been marked by economic growth and the only risk seemed to be missing out on mega-profits. In future money will flow slower and more arduously. Above all however the collapse of Lehman Brothers made it clear that the rapid boom of the global economy was built on sand, relying on ever more risky loans. ... The moral of the story is that there are no miracles. Castles in the sky built on speculation bubbles will collapse, and those who live with their heads in the clouds will awake one morning at the bottom of a deep pit. We cannot afford to repeat this mistake."

» full article (external link, Latvian)
More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Pauls Raudseps

» To the complete press review of Monday, September 14, 2009