[DEBATE] : Soros sees collapse, Volcker says it's faster than Great Depression

[Riaz K Tayob]

Soros sees collapse, Volcker says it's faster than Great Depression


By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Juan Lagorio
Reuters
Saturday, February 21, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE51K0A920090221

NEW YORK -- Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world 
financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet 
no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great 
Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet 
Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning 
point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a 
Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's 
still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."

His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul 
Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to 
President Barack Obama.

Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even 
more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain.

"I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when 
things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world," 
Volcker said.