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Tuesday, March 4, 2008
U.S. image is dis-credited
The spreading U.S. credit crisis is turning up the heat on Europe’s simmering anti-Americanism, according to an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper.
“As credit woes endanger the world economy, they’re giving Europeans another reason to resent U.S. influence,” the article said.
Anti-Americanism already was simmering because of the Iraq war, dislike for President Bush, and mistrust of rampaging buyout firms, it said. Now, Europe’s pundits and politicians are feeding public perceptions that ordinary folks will be left paying the bill for the financial missteps of big banks.
“This crisis shows why the market must be regulated. Left to itself, it often produces the worst,” says Jean Quatremer, the Brussels correspondent for France’s Libération newspaper.
The article said that this latest outburst of anti-Americanism could have repercussions for American businesses abroad.
Indeed, as popular European attitudes against the American brand of capitalism harden, governments may tilt left (it’s already happening in Germany) and economic nationalism will get a boost, as it has in France. “The resulting backlash could make it harder for U.S. firms to make acquisitions in Europe, and high-risk, high-reward financial products from Wall Street will be ferociously scrutinized,” the article said.
