Niti v najbolj črni domišljiji si nisem mogel predstavljati, da bo tako hudo, v pogovoru za Spiegel pravi George Soros (78), finančnik, ki je s skladi hedge obogatel. Po njegovem mnenju ‘ekonomija ne bi padla s pečine‘, če bi banka Lehman Brothers ostala pokonci oziroma politika ne bi dovolila, da propade. Od Baracka Obame in njegovega finančnega ministra pričakuje več daljnovidnosti in nov reševalni oziroma spodbujevalni sveženj, nemara ne tolikšen, kot je bil s 700 milijardami dolarjev prvi, a tudi ne bistveno manjšega.
I think this is a great opportunity to finally deal with global warming and energy dependence. The US needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights. I would use the revenues from these auctions to launch a new, environmentally friendly energy policy. That would be yet another federal program that could help us to overcome the current stagnation.
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That is exactly what we need now. I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful — but also very harmful to our society.
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You have to recognize that regulations will never be completely successful and they will always be full of holes. You must constantly be ready to fill new holes. Actually regulation should be kept to a minimum, but there has to be some cooperation between market participants and authorities — as was the case in the early post war years. The Bank of England was a very successful regulator by cooperating with market participants. This cooperative spirit was broken by the market fundamentalists.
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Since I became a public figure, the man who allegedly “broke the Bank of England,” I have been cast as a financial guru who can influence markets. That has actually created more moral problems for me. It has forced me to impose certain self-constraints in my statements — exactly because I can move markets, like the investor Warren Buffett. Therefore, we try to act very responsibly.
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I think that hedge funds are a very efficient way of managing money. But I clearly see the risks. Hedge funds use credit and credit is a source of instability. My conclusion is that transactions involving credit should be regulated.
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I think there need to be appropriate regulation of the financial markets, But it is impossible to prevent speculation. There is very little difference between speculation and investment. The only difference is basically that investments are successful speculations because if you successfully anticipate the future you make a speculative profit. I don’t have a bad conscience at all. I am very proud to be a successful speculator.
