World of opinion
On U.S. financial reform: By agreeing on a U.S. financial regulation bill on June 25, the House-Senate conference teams armed President Barack Obama with good news for the G20 summit in Toronto. Now the full chambers of Congress must arm regulators with weapons to repair the dysfunctional U.S. financial system by passing the bill without delay.
A number of compromises were struck to agree on a text. The Volcker rule – which forbids deposit-taking banks to invest in hedge funds or engage in proprietary trading – and the Lincoln amendment – which forces banks to bundle their derivatives’ desks off into separate entities – were passed after relaxing both just enough to win over recalcitrant lawmakers.
Though among the most controversial elements in the law, these rules were distractions: they do little to rein in systemic risk. What matters is that they will not scupper the last stretch of the legislative process. Similarly, a surprise levy of up to $19 billion on financial institutions to cover a last-minute estimate of costs to taxpayers is an acceptable way to rid the path to passage of remaining obstacles.
The bill is not perfect, but it vastly improves on the status quo. The U.S. will finally regulate derivatives. It will have a system for winding down the largest financial institutions if they fail. And the responsibility for preventing both systemic risk and consumer abuse will be clearer and stronger. …
If all goes well, the crisis will continue to wane. It is crucial that vigilance does not weaken with it.
The Financial Times, London
On G20 fiscal reform:
The world cannot borrow its way out of the worst global financial and economic crisis in more than half a century – it does well to recognize that fact before it is too late.
By agreeing on the need for fiscal consolidation at the G20 summit in Toronto, global leaders have plumbed ahead with a determination unseen of late to end the rapid build up of public debt.
Policymakers must face up to fiscal challenges sooner, or else they risk leaving unaccomplished the necessary, though painful, fiscal adjustments needed to restore their nations’ long-term productivity and competitiveness.
Swift implementation of unprecedented stimulus programs in the world’s biggest economies have so far successfully prevented a depression, yet it also added trillions of dollars to their national debt.
The fragility of the current global recovery as well as differing national circumstances have prompted G20 leaders to acknowledge that synchronized fiscal adjustment could adversely impact ongoing economic recovery.
However, to square the circle of growth and fiscal stability, it is imperative for those countries facing serious fiscal challenges to accelerate the pace of consolidation.
The G20 summit endorsed a goal for advanced economies to cut government deficits in half by 2013 and stabilize the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product by 2016.
Unlike expensive stimulus programs that G20 countries adopted at previous meetings, the fiscal reform push will be far more difficult to devise and politically hard to execute at home. Yet, fiscal sustainability is essential to any lasting recovery. Policymakers should do their utmost to promote fiscal consolidation, which entails short-term pain for long-term gain. …
China Daily, Beijing
On FIFA’s lack of technology:
Technology has advanced at such a pace that allows for its use in almost all fields of life, except for a few like officiating matches of football, the most popular game in the world.
The ongoing month-long World Cup football championship in South Africa continues to offer good reasons why technology should help improve the game and enhance spectators’ confidence that all teams are given a fair chance to win, or at least are not being deprived of a deserved triumph.
Refereeing mistakes that can be avoided by the use of technology, particularly cameras, include violent tackles that do not get detected, red cards that should have never been issued, offside goals that get allowed, or goals that do not get counted.
Such mistakes and omissions can be drastically reduced by the use of television cameras that are already available in stadiums around the globe.
As spectators sit mesmerized in front of their television screens following the best that football can offer in the most watched sports event in the world, they lament the fact that unjust decisions pass without getting rectified, wondering why the world’s football governing body, FIFA, with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, would not allow technology that is already available to ordinary spectators to assist referees. …
The Jordan Times, Amman