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White House recruits IMF communications chief
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The International Monetary Fund announced its top spokesperson, Caroline Atkinson, is leaving the Fund to become a special assistant to US President Barack Obama. Atkinson, the director of external relations at the Washington-based global lender, will join the White House in August as “special assistant to the president for international economic affairs,” the IMF said in a statement.
Meet Caroline Atkinson…
The mirage of an oasis of prosperity
(CFR/FT) March 28, 2001 – Crises “are great media fodder but they are not real hot for anybody else”, Paul O’Neill, US Treasury secretary, said in the Financial Times soon after he took office. His suggestion for dealing with inter- national financial crises is more full-blooded capitalism, with less intervention by the International Monetary Fund and others.
Events since then – from Turkey to Argentina – show that capitalism without crisis is not here yet. Countries and investors make mistakes. These can trigger a loss of confidence that endangers financial stability and growth.
The Bush administration has signalled a preference for a “hands-off” policy in dealing with international economic problems. But that sits uneasily with the reality of the global economy and with George W. Bush’s own rhetoric about the need to shore up the US economy. The outlook for emerging markets has deteriorated recently. Whether now or later, the odds are that the administration will have to handle a full-blown financial crisis. Will pragmatism win over conservative rhetoric?
Political and security relationships cannot be divorced from economics – and vice versa. A collapse in Turkey’s economy is serious even if it is not a direct threat to the global economy.
The Bush administration’s diplomats recognise this. Concerned by how much power accrued to the US Treasury under secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, they have made much of taking back part of that responsibility. It would be ironic if a misplaced desire for purity in letting markets work led the traditional guardians of global economic policy in the US Treasury to cede influence to others more focused on politics and diplomacy and less able or concerned to promote sensible economics.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
