Insulate Economy From Global Catastrophe: CPI - Sep 22, 2008

Urging the United Progressive Alliance government to draw lessons from the American economic crisis, the Communist Party of India on Sunday said steps should be taken to insulate the Indian economy from global catastrophe. The U.S. economy model and their financial system are being projected as the best in the world but the bluff has been called. The deregulated financial system set up in the USA is the worst model to be emulated by [the] country. But it is shameful that the Government of India is in a hurry to copy this model in our country, the party national executive said at the end of its two-day meeting here.Referring to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the failure of Merrill Lynch and AIG, it said these signified the hollowness of the capitalist market economy. These collapses and sell-outs have sent panic waves across the global market. The collapse of Lehman Brothers exposed the myth of the omnipotence of the American financial system. Their economy was already facing a deep crisis. With a capital of $30 bn., Lehman Brothers have loans and investments of over $630 bn. without proper safeguards