NEW YORK (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) - "We may be living in a fool's paradise," billionaire financier George Soros tells Adam Smith in the upcoming public television special, "How to Survive and Prosper in the World Financial Crisis." "We may now be in that boom phase that makes us feel good, and eventually when the price is paid, it will be too late," Soros said.
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average has crossed 10,000, this is but one sign of the new global marketplace; the other side is the kind of cardiac arrest that hit the markets late last summer when the Dow dropped 20% in a matter of weeks.
Commenting on recent world financial shock waves, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, said, "this was in some ways the first crisis of the global financial markets." In the new 21st century markets, Stanley Fischer, the top ranked American at the IMF, says "the speed and scale are different than anything we have seen before... this is not the last crisis."
In the first in-depth television program on the international monetary crisis, Adam Smith Global Television and Nightly Business Report team up to explore what the crisis will mean to Americans. Co-hosted by Adam Smith, Emmy-winning host of "Adam Smith's Money World," and NBR Executive Editor, Linda O'Bryon, the program begins airing in prime-time on public television stations on Friday, April 2 (check local listings for dates and airtimes).
Americans are in a state of economic euphoria, with financial markets soaring and consumer confidence at all time highs, while one third of the world -- from South America to Asia -- is floundering financially. Can the U.S., as Alan Greenspan said, remain "an oasis of prosperity?" Why should Americans care about the troubles elsewhere? Can the ills of Asia affect your business? Are there opportunities for alert investors?
Smith and O'Bryon will take viewers from Moscow to Malaysia, then to Washington, Wall Street and Main Street. Going behind closed doors with some of the world's most recognized financial power brokers and economic experts, the program will provide viewers with a broad understanding of what a global recession could mean to Americans, affecting both their businesses and personal investments.
Financial luminaries offering their insights and advice include U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin; George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management; Stanley Fischer, IMF's First Deputy Managing Director; highly esteemed global economists Professors Paul Krugman of MIT and Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard; Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysian; Grigory Yavlinsky, Russian party leader/ presidential candidate; Lee Kuan Yew, Senior Minister/former Prime Minister of Singapore; Domingo Cavallo, former Finance Minister of Argentina and advisor to Brazil; and Ron Hill, partner and strategist, Brown Brothers Harriman and Company. Following are some interview highlights:
Treasury Secretary Rubin discusses some of the "flash points" that could have taken the world over the edge. He was on vacation, he recalls, and spent much of it on the phone jawboning bankers into rolling over their loans in Korea. "What's happened in the global financial markets...has brought tremendous benefit to economies around the world, clearly to our own economy. But... it's all become tied together in the sense that investors in Russia are also investors all over the world..." says Rubin, noting that when there is trouble in one country's economy it spills over into other countries. "The American economy has become a part... of a global economy. And I think that's been very much to our benefit... in terms of job growth and standard of living. However, it also carries with it risks."
Taking the worldview, Smith asked international financier George Soros why Americans should care about the world financial crisis. "... (Americans) are benefiting from it." Using a tennis metaphor, Soros notes that the U.S. has to do something to help our foreign partners that are in financial straits. If our "playing partner" is suffering from a "disease" and is weakening, we may feel good about "winning the game." But, if we don't call in a "doctor" we won't have anyone to play with and we will suffer the consequences, advises Soros.
On the U.S. "Main Street" side of the issue, Linda O'Bryon interviewed Brown Brothers Harriman's Ron Hill to get his advice to the American investor. O'Bryon asked Hill why anyone should care about the world financial crisis. "You should always care about crises," says Hill, "because they always have ways to get you in ways you don't expect." O'Bryon further asks what the signs are that investors should be looking for and Hill responds "when you start to see liquidity drained out of the market, the first and most sensitive sign will always be the bond market. Look at the long U.S. Treasury. Look at the ten-year bonds in Germany or Japan. When those start to fall in price, rise in yield, that's telling you that there's not as much money around as before and the bond market is the weathervane for the feeling of inflation in the markets."
In discussing the focus of the program, Adam Smith said, "In the global economy we all have a stake in what happens overseas even though many Americans don't realize it. Are we in the early stages of a global recession? What would that mean for our investments, pensions and jobs? It's high time Americans woke up to the financial facts of life."
Linda O'Bryon, creator of Nightly Business Report, adds, "Many people in America have no idea how daily economic events in the world can directly affect them. 'How to Survive and Prosper...' provides an opportunity to help people make informed decisions on their financial futures based on a wider playing field."
The program also reports from the field on American businesses in the Pacific Northwest, including farmers and the aircraft and lumber industries that have been affected by the Asian currency crisis and how the region has fared. Another report looks at how many Americans are directly or indirectly invested in the global economy--many through 401k, pension plans or mutual funds--examining the long-term and short-term risks and rewards.
"How to Survive and Prosper in the World Financial Crisis" is produced by Adam Smith Global Television and NBR Enterprises/WPBT2 Miami, producer of Nightly Business Report, television's No.1 daily business news program. The special is produced with the cooperation of the World Economic Forum and Princeton University's Center for International Studies. It is supported by grants from the Neuberger Foundation and is being presented by Thirteen/WNET New York and WPBT2/Miami.
nt.excite.com |
