A Maior Queda da Bolsa de NY

Com a rejeição do plano Bailout de Paulson pelo congresso,

a bolsa de NY sofreu hoje a maior queda de sempre, maior que a verificada há 2 semanas.

Entretanto em Portugal, ainda temos quem veja nisto uma oportunidade para escrever sobre as maravilhas do "mercado livre", da mão invísivel de 1776 (!), ou defender que isto é tudo normal e será corrigido pelo próprio sistema. Para não falar da hipotese de privatização da CGD ou de financiamento da Segurança Social através dos mercados financeiros - ideias brilhantes sem dúvida, não fosse o pequeno facto do contexto actual.

João César das Neves:

"A presente crise nada tem de extraordinário. Como os furacões que assolam regularmente a costa americana, o susto da catástrofe é duro mas não deve gerar previsões drásticas ou medidas radicais. Enfrentado o tufão, reconstrói-se e regressa-se ao normal."

Pacheco Pereira:

A "crise" não é o sinal da crise do liberalismo, mas sim do seu normal funcionamento, em sociedades e economias que incorporam o risco e os custos como parte do seu funcionamento normal, das regras do jogo dessa mão que Adam Smith dizia ser "invisível".

Está na altura de reverem esses manuais empoeirados. Já passamos a fase da teoria, os resultados estão à vista de qualquer um disposto a deixar os filtros/palas em casa.

EUA: Neo-Socialismo

Republicans admit the free market doesn't work

"For years, the Republican Party has preached the virtues of the "ownership society." Americans should own their own homes, goes the songbook; they should own stocks; they should take ownership of social benefits like heath care. It's a compelling vision—and it has completely collapsed."

"There is a term in political philosophy to describe a government takeover of a critical industry: That term is socialism. What the Bush administration is proposing is, plain and simple, socialized banking."

"This is the political party that for decades has insisted on deregulation and free markets, has scolded Hugo Chavez for nationalizing the oil industry (...) the Bush administration has undertaken the single largest socialist investment in the history of mankind. The Bolshevik revolution of 1917 couldn't dream of an economy worth $700 billion; the figure dwarfs anything ever attempted by Fidel Castro"

The global financial crisis

US government rescues insurer AIG



The US Federal Reserve has announced an $85bn (£48bn) rescue package for AIG, the country's biggest insurance company, to save it from bankruptcy.
AIG will get an $85bn loan, in return for an 80% public stake in the firm.
The rescue follows the collapse of US investment giant Lehman Brothers, which caused share prices to plummet across the world's financial markets.

Authorities are hoping the bail-out will avert the threat of a global financial meltdown.
The Fed's move is viewed by some as the most radical intervention in private business in its history and has helped fuel a tentative rally on global stock markets.
The past few days have seen dramatic events unfold in the financial world:

• The UK's top mortgage lender HBOS is in merger talks with Lloyds TSB after a steep fall in HBOS shares
• The Fed and the US Treasury say AIG's bailout will protect the interests of US taxpayers
• US interest rates have been kept on hold despite widespread calls for a cut
• Barclays says it is buying some of the core assets of US investment bank Lehman Brothers for $1.75bn (£1bn)

EUA: e agora?

McCain Embraces Regulation After Many Years of Opposition

"A decade ago, Sen. John McCain embraced legislation to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries, helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades in favor of a less restricted financial marketplace that proponents said would result in greater economic growth."

"In 2002 (...) The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act aimed to make the country's financial institutions competitive by removing the Depression-era walls between banking, investment and insurance companies."

"I'm always for less regulation," he told the Wall Street Journal in March. He added: "I'd like to see a lot of the unnecessary government regulations eliminated."

Depois de anos e anos de des-regulamentação, de liberalização de mercados e regras, de diminuição da intervenção do Estado, de governos defensores do funcionamento livre dos mercados sem influências reguladoras (que seriam "nefastos obstáculos"), chega-se ao ponto de quebra do sistema: contra os fundamentos do sistema o Estado é forçado a nacionalizar empresas para evitar o colapso da economia. É este o "muro de Berlim" americano?

Obama: "So let's be clear: What we've seen the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed."