A MONKEY SPEAKS AT G-20

clipped from: Associated Press

George Bush fervently defended U.S.-style free enterprise Thursday as the cure for the world's financial chaos, not the cause

• not to crush global growth with restrictive new rules

• government intervention is not a cure-all,

• not be more government smarter government."
  

• acknowledged that governments share the blame for the severe economic troubles

• tougher accounting rules

• more modern international financial institutions.

stopped short of the tighter oversight and regulation

• Don't disturb capitalism.

• voices from the left and right are equating the free enterprise system with greed, exploitation and failure,"

• "But the crisis was not a failure of the free market system. And the answer is not to try to reinvent that system."

That warning about the dangers of too much government intervention came not long after he championed the biggest bailout in U.S. history: a $700 billion taxpayer-funded plan to rescue the financial industry.

Barack Obama
has authorized former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to represent him.

others are advocating a broader overhaul of financial regulations than Bush wants. The Europeans also want a pledge for concrete changes in just 100 days.

The stated goal of G 20

• examine the causes of the crisis and begin mapping out principles for a response.

But Britain's Brown

• "There is a need for urgency.

Bush's argument against regulatory overreach was delivered not in Washington but on Wall Street.

• he defended his administration against charges from some leaders that insufficient oversight and regulation in the U.S. contributed to — even caused — the mess

Obama

• say no one was minding the people's business as the housing market plunged, credit markets ground to a halt and the broader financial system went into distress.

Bush's list

_Bolstering accounting rules for stocks, bonds and other investments so investors have a clearer sense of the true value of what they buy.

_Requiring "credit default swaps" — a type of corporate debt insurance — to be processed through a central clearinghouse. That would help provide crucial information on the parties involved in these complex, unregulated products.

_Taking a fresh look at rules aimed at preventing fraud and manipulation in trading of stocks and other securities.

_Better coordinating financial regulations among countries.

_Giving more countries voting power at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. Those countries and the European Union make up the so-called G-20

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

• a system in which executives of financial firms are rewarded for maximizing risk "cannot be sustained."

The labor leaders are calling for

• re-regulation of global financial markets,

• an internationally coordinated fiscal stimulus and

• balanced economic growth to address income inequality.