Chrystia Freeland, US managing editor, interviewed George Soros, the fund manager, about the state of the world economy, relations between the US and China, his investment performance and regulating bankers’ compensation. This is a transcript of that interview.
FT: Thank you for joining us, Mr Soros.
GS: It’s a pleasure.
FT: How do you judge the state of the world economy? Has the world recovered from the crisis of 2007/2008?
GS: Well, certainly the financial markets have regained their composure so they’re beginning to function again, and also the world economy has overcome the shock that it has suffered because for a while everything froze and now things are moving again. So there is rebound, but I think that the facts of the crisis will take a long time for the world to absorb and the main source of the problem is in the United States. This is where consumers have spent more than they earned for a period of 25 years; where we have accumulated current account deficit that reached 6.5 per cent at its peak, which actually could have continued because there were other countries – particularly China and the Asian tigers – that were very happy to run a continuous surplus and to finance our deficit. So that could have actually continued, but the households became over-indebted and it’s the consumer who accounts for over 70 per cent of the US economy that has to cut down, and that will take a while.
Read the complete interview
FT: Thank you for joining us, Mr Soros.
GS: It’s a pleasure.
FT: How do you judge the state of the world economy? Has the world recovered from the crisis of 2007/2008?
GS: Well, certainly the financial markets have regained their composure so they’re beginning to function again, and also the world economy has overcome the shock that it has suffered because for a while everything froze and now things are moving again. So there is rebound, but I think that the facts of the crisis will take a long time for the world to absorb and the main source of the problem is in the United States. This is where consumers have spent more than they earned for a period of 25 years; where we have accumulated current account deficit that reached 6.5 per cent at its peak, which actually could have continued because there were other countries – particularly China and the Asian tigers – that were very happy to run a continuous surplus and to finance our deficit. So that could have actually continued, but the households became over-indebted and it’s the consumer who accounts for over 70 per cent of the US economy that has to cut down, and that will take a while.
Read the complete interview
