IMF chief urges action to avoid 1930s moment

Image by World Economic Forum via Flickr

The “1930s moment” appears to be a reference to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the crash on Wall Street in 1929 triggered an economic depression in the U.S. which later spread around the world.

Christine Lagarde called for stronger growth, larger firewalls and deeper integration in the euro zone to stem the crisis after the “many false starts and half measures” seen in 2011. She delivered this stark message in Berlin, the capital of Germany — Europe’s biggest economy and the most important player in resolving the long-running crisis.

“What we must all understand is that this is a defining moment,” Lagarde said at the German Council on Foreign Relations, according to the prepared text of her speech. “It is not about saving any one country or region. It is about saving the world from a downward economic spiral. It is about avoiding a 1930s moment, in which inaction, insularity and rigid ideology combine to cause a collapse in global demand.”

From: http://ping.fm/vtqB6

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