US Economy on Trial in Davos

The US economy was called into question by Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin at this week's annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In his speech given on the opening day of the Forum, Putin initially called for the an end to blaming the current global economic crisis on the US. However as the speech continues, Putin questions the role the US played in the global crisis. Putin asserts the US corporations were subject to substandard regulations and a lack of governmental oversight.

According to Putin, this lack of restraint for fiscal risk has resulted in a world where the economy of one nation, the United States, has brought on huge inequities between the US and other nations. Putin states, "Corporate appetites with regard to constantly growing demand swelled unjustifiably." Putin further points out that he believes that the "corporate appetites" has resulted in wealth being, "distributed extremely unevenly among various population strata" around the world. So much for ending the blame game.

It would appear that a round of "Kumbaya" will not close this year's forum. Let's just hope that next year's forum doesn't start off with "Workers of the world, unite!"