Credit Crisis More Damaging Than September 11

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In The Media

Credit Crisis More Damaging Than September 11

While the attacks of September 11, 2001 scarred the U.S. deeply, the current financial crisis may prove to have more lasting ramifications. Historians are more likely to see the economic crisis as a true global watershed: as the era of pure neoliberal economics abruptly ends, the U.S. must now decide whether to embrace a new American capitalism and accept greater government involvement.

By David Rothkopf

Published on Oct 6, 2008

Source: NPR's Talk of the Nation

While the attacks of September 11, 2001 scarred the U.S. deeply, the current financial crisis may prove to have more lasting ramifications than 9/11. As David Rothkopf explains, historians are more likely to see the current economic crisis as a true global watershed, marking the end of a neoliberal era in which politicians were content to “leave it to the markets.” As this era abruptly ends, the government must step in and play a larger role in the next era of economic policy, and we need leaders who can tackle this challenge.

As the country struggles to define a new American capitalism, it must also recognize that the global implications of the crisis are deepening day by day. In searching for solutions, the real problem will be figuring out how to regulate global markets, which are beyond the reach of a single national government. We must “re-think government from the bottom-up” and begin to create effective global mechanisms for governance, in order to avoid further catastrophe and lessen the inequalities created by laissez-faire capitalism.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

About the Author

David Rothkopf

Former Visiting Scholar

David Rothkopf was a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment as well as the former CEO and editor in chief of the FP Group.

Recent Work

In The Media
How Bush, Obama, and Trump Ended Pax Americana
- David Rothkopf
In The Media
A Bigger Clubhouse
- David Rothkopf

Economy Trade North America United States

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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