海角大神

Will America lose its status as the world鈥檚 financial superpower?

There鈥檚 obviously a lot resting on President Bush鈥檚 Thursday afternoon meeting with congressional leaders 鈥� including Barack Obama and John McCain 鈥� to hammer out the bank rescue deal. Markets tiptoed through the day here like a heroine in a horror film waiting for the ax to fall.

But those perfidious Europeans are daring to suggest that whatever and whenever the deal, it鈥檚 all over for the American financial superpower, which has dominated the global economic landscape for 50 years, if not more.

鈥淭he world will never be as it was before the crisis,鈥� German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck ventured today. 鈥淭he United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multipolar.鈥�

All of which would be great for Europe. If only it wasn鈥檛 so dependent on the US export market. And if only the London, Paris, and Frankfurt stock markets didn鈥檛 follow Wall Street鈥檚 every move.

Meanwhile, Europe is pooh-poohing suggestions of needing a bailout of its own.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Policy in Brussels, is convinced the situation this side of the pond is very different, according to several newswires and the .

"The situation we face here in Europe is less acute, and member states do not at this point consider that a US-style plan is needed," he said.

French banks are particularly sanguine, the big two insisting Thursday that they are sitting pretty.

鈥淲e see a lot of opportunities,鈥� said Soci茅t茅 G茅n茅rale鈥檚 deputy chief executive Severin Cabannes. 鈥淲e're taking opportunities on the market.鈥� Perhaps an unfortunate choice of words from the bank that took a 5 billion euro hit from a rogue trader last year.

Rich men, camels, and eyes of needles

It鈥檚 not the job of this blog to pass judgment on those who sold dodgy derivatives or drove banks to the wall last week. We鈥檒l leave that to men of the cloth.

At the Church of England, they鈥檙e not pleased. Writing in the Spectator, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said it was time to make financiers as the rest of us.

鈥淚t is no use pretending that the financial world can maintain indefinitely the degree of exemption from scrutiny and regulation that it has got used to,鈥� Dr. Williams wrote.

The Archbishop of York John Sentamu was even more scathing, calling short-sellers 鈥渂ank robbers.鈥� 鈥淲e find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland,鈥� he said.

That, one presumes, would make the proceedings on Capitol Hill the Mad Hatter鈥檚 Tea Party.