Indeed it cannot happen to try to predict

In one of your recent works, "The revolutionary wealth", you indicate the weaknesses inherent in globalization and those in the financial world. But had you imagined a crisis of this magnitude

No, certainly not. What shocks me is the constant references to 1929, in reference to the current crisis. What people do not see, what are the differences between yesterday and today. It is this need to focus not on the éventuelles similarities. However these differences are enormous. First, I would like to stress how much I think economics is more and more obsolete. It ignores key factors. Time, for example. Cannot understand what is happening in this crisis, or that occurred in earlier crises, without taking time into consideration. Compare our economy with that of 1929 is an aberration.

Yet, Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, much studied this period as an academic and wanted to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Very well. The President of the Federal Reserve draws the lessons of history. But it must take into account the time and speed. This economy operates at very high speed. Bankers on Wall Street created in the night of new financial instruments that were marketed in the second in Europe and the rest of the world. They were complex instruments, which were placed on the market with such rapidity that it gave anyone the time to understand what it was. The speed has become a crucial factor in the economy, but who teaches this

What can build some sort of firewall to protect themselves

It especially to reassess what we do and how we do it. Wall Street finance goes very quickly, the Government and the Washington institutions very slowly. What are incompatible parameters. Should first reconsider the response time that is given. The system is fully sync.

Time is a factor, but what do you think greed It seems that this was a powerful engine of this crisis

Greed is an old thing, and it true that this makes sick to look at what happened. There must be limits, but do not count for this on the Government, which will never be adequate solution. It should not hesitate to criticize. I am not against the money, I am opposed to too grandes disparities. In this case, Wall Street has created a crisis that has plunged the rest of humanity in the recession.

How the compare you against those that you have been able to pass through in your life

I was born in 1928. The year after, it was the great depression. My father tried to sell apples on the corner of streets just to feed us. It was terrifying and it lasted, lasted... This is also why the memory of this great depression is so strong in the United States. But there have been other crises since, as the oil shock of 1975, and others followed. I note that the pace of the crisis tends to accelerate. This is why that the speed and time are, in my view, crucial factors to study economics. Another factor to take into account is that of space. Today, the world is globalised, this was not true for the recessions of the past. This is why I am convinced that search in the past of the answers is really not adapted.

You're a futurist, but it is still difficult to question the future to understand the situation today!

No one knows the future with certainty, but there are predictions that we can do. Indeed, it cannot happen to try to predict. And it is doing not so bad most of the time.

What do you read in this crisis the end of the American empire The beginning of the decline

It is obvious that the role of America will have to be reformulated. I am not prepared to say that it is end of American supremacy. But will that things are very different. I repeat once again, time, space, and knowledge are the differentiators with previous systems, but also with other countries and other cultures. The alignment of the country will change. I hope that you will not need to shed blood this time, such as ç' has been the case in the past and as it could be.

What is Obama is the man who can leave the America of the crisis What is it good President to build its future

It is not able to do what he wants. But it has a democratic majority that will still help him.

You were against the rescue of the American automotive industry...

The industry is no longer the most important source of employment. It is better to develop services and create knowledge. It requires that Governments and economists have recognized the importance of knowledge. When a recovery plan, there is a great danger to invest in obsolete infrastructure. How many cars do we really need In twenty years, how many people will work in an Office rather than at home This has impact on transportation, highways, etc. It must be that the Government is working with groups that project in the future.

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