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A Sixth Form and Undergraduate conference by the European Atlantic Movement (TEAM) was held in November at the Friends House. Harrow College Economics and Business students, along with other colleges, participated in a conference on the topic ‘Can the UK, Europe and the USA solve the global crisis?’
The conference started off with an overview of the economic crisis by the Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Economy, Vince Cable. He explained how the recession hit the global market and what caused the downturn.
Vince Cable’s talk was followed by that of David Marsh, the Financial Times’ former correspondent, who showed a European dimension to the crisis and what role the UK and the European Union (EU) played in the economic situation.
The conference continued with an interesting talk by Louis B Susman, United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, on the role of the USA in the crisis. William Horsley, former BBC World Service Correspondent; Quentin Peel, International Affairs Editor of the Financial Times and Graeme Leach, Chief Economist and Director of Policy of The Institute of Directors hosted an engaging discussion on The Politics behind the Economics.
Harrow College students asked a number of intelligent questions on the future of the crisis, role of the EU and whether the US would form anything similar to EU with its neighbouring countries.
The conference was rounded off by a talk by Lord Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer with impressive comments like these:
‘It has been well said that while banks may live globally, they die nationally - and it is the national taxpayer who has to pay the funeral expenses.
‘All free economies move in cycles. Like mood swings they cannot be prevented. When a banking crisis is superimposed on the normal and inescapable business cycle, the consequences are worse by an order of magnitude. It is banking meltdown and not the cycle that we must seek to prevent.’
In terms of the solution to this global problem, Lord Lawson concluded by saying, ‘we need to return to something along the lines of the US Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which would enforce a separation between narrow, commercial deposit-taking ‘utility’ banking on the one hand and high-risk investment banking on the other.’
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