THE TELEGRAPH: The European Central Bank has taken dramatic action to unblock the credit markets, flooding the system with $170bn of dollar liquidity and accepting junk bonds as collateral at its lending window.
"The ECB is doing whatever it takes to unclog the interbank market," said Gilles Moec, from Bank of America, who described the move as "spectacular" volte-face and a belated recognition that the credit crisis is deadly serious.
The monetary blitz was welcomed in Brussels, where EU leaders were meeting yet again, just days after agreeing to the most comprehensive bank bail-out in history. "We are not at the end of the crisis, we are still living in dangerous times," said Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg premier and Eurogroup chair.
He issued a stark reminder that life is going be very different for the banking elite as governments move to restore the lost discipline of the Bretton Woods financial order and attempt to "civilise" capitalism, the code word for clamping down on the City – dubbed "the Casino" in Europe.
"Let everyone remember after this crisis, who solved it. Politicians did, not bankers," he said. Mr Juncker added that this episode would have a profound effect on the euro debate in Britain.
"The British prime minister had to beg to be let into the room. I'm sure that when the storm is over, the British will think about whether they shouldn't become an equal in all decision-making bodies." ECB Goes Nuclear as EU Leaders Plan to ‘Civilise’ Capitalism >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | October 16, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
