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2.34 MB
Extraction Summary
6
People
2
Organizations
10
Locations
2
Events
4
Relationships
5
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Article / book review / interview transcript (part of house oversight evidence)
File Size:
2.34 MB
Summary
This document is a page from a House Oversight evidence dump (marked 029556) detailing the views of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. The text summarizes Keating's book and opinions on the 2008 financial crisis, the necessity for Australia to integrate with East Asia, the flaws of the Eurozone currency, and geopolitical blunders regarding Russia. Notably, Keating explicitly blames Bill Clinton for NATO expansion causing friction with Russia and Alan Greenspan for the 2008 financial collapse.
People (6)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Keating | Former Australian Prime Minister / Author |
Subject of the text; discussing his book and views on global economics and geopolitics.
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| John Howard | Former Australian Prime Minister |
Mentioned as having dismissed the proposition of Australia becoming a republic.
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| François Mitterrand | Former President of France |
Mentioned as wanting weaker economies in the Eurozone to balance a unified Germany.
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| Vladimir Putin | Leader of Russia |
Keating suggests US policy created him by pushing aside Russian liberals.
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| Bill Clinton | Former US President |
Keating points the finger at him regarding the expansion of NATO and relations with Russia.
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| Alan Greenspan | Former US Federal Reserve Chief |
Keating states he must bear a fair amount of responsibility for the 2008 financial crisis.
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Organizations (2)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| NATO |
Discussed regarding its 1990s expansion to the Russian border.
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| US Federal Reserve |
Mentioned in relation to Alan Greenspan.
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Timeline (2 events)
Locations (10)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
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Primary focus of Keating's economic advice.
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Region Keating believes Australia must integrate with culturally.
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Discussed regarding economic growth and global imbalances.
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Discussed regarding savings rates, GDP, and foreign policy.
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Discussed regarding the Euro and political structure.
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Mentioned as a core Euro nation.
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Mentioned as a core Euro nation.
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Mentioned as core Euro nations.
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Mentioned as a country that should not have been allowed into the Euro.
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Discussed regarding NATO expansion and post-Cold War order.
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Relationships (4)
Keating points the finger at Bill Clinton for responsible for NATO expansion issues.
Keating says Greenspan must bear responsibility for the 2008 crisis.
Howard dismissed the republic proposition that Keating supports.
Mitterrand wanted weaker economies in the Euro because they weren't ready to sit beside the German unified state without friends.
Key Quotes (5)
"The problem is we have a single currency without a political union and without a fiscal union."Source
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Quote #1
"In a sense the US has created Vladimir Putin."Source
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Quote #2
"China has built huge foreign exchange reserves by exporting too much and America, in turn, is saving too little."Source
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Quote #3
"Sensible policy would have included a place for Russia in the new world order."Source
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Quote #4
"Cultural transformation is the key for us."Source
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Quote #5
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (3,726 characters)
How did they get by? They used the easy credit of the banking system, thereby feeding the frenzy that ended in bad loans and meltdown.
Keating's book has an abiding message for Australia: in the transformed world we "will find ourselves increasingly on our own" having to master our own destiny.
The job is to rediscover the productivity and savings agenda of the 1990s. Why did Australia survive the 2008 financial crisis? "Because of the flexibility of the economy," Keating says. "Flexibility which came from the reform of Australia's financial, product and labour markets that began 25 years ago. This has given us one of the most flexible economies in the world - arguably the most flexible. But further structural changes are ahead of us."
He lists them. It is a mix of the new and old Keating agenda: a shift in resources to the extractive industries; a lift in capital inflow driving a high current account deficit putting a premium on savings; recognition that competitiveness will lie "in the creativity of our people as much as it does in our oil and gas"; a renewed emphasis on the value of hi-tech and education; and above all, a cultural change that integrates Australia more into East Asia. "Cultural transformation is the key for us," Keating says. He rates it as more important than economic reform.
"There is less interest now in being part of East Asia than there was in the 1990s," he laments.
Keating wants this idea revived. And he ties it to the republic arguing that to succeed in Asia we must become a republic, a proposition Howard always dismissed.
On China, Keating is an optimist yet alive to the daunting economic challenge China now confronts. "What is happening in China knows no precedence in world economic history," he says. "Never before have 1.25 billion people dragged themselves from poverty at such a pace. China is now half the GDP of the US and incomes have risen by a factor of 10." He argues, however, that the origin of the 2008 financial crisis lies in the global imbalances - China has built huge foreign exchange reserves by exporting too much and America, in turn, is saving too little.
Keating says: "China must shift the basis of growth from net exports and investment to domestic consumption. Will they achieve this? Probably. Will there be strains along the way? There have to be."
Unlike many Australian leaders, Keating is a Europhile. "I think the European project is the most significant project since the second world war," he says. But he sees two huge blunders made in Europe.
From the euro's inception, Keating said it should constitute only Germany, France and the Benelux nations, not the peripheral countries around the Mediterranean, and "Greece should never have been allowed in".
Why were the weaker economies given entry?
Keating says: "It's because president Mitterrand and the French wanted it. They weren't ready to sit beside the German unified state without some friends."
So the eurozone was flawed from the outset, a structure awaiting internal assault: "The problem is we have a single currency without a political union and without a fiscal union."
The second blunder was the 1990s expansion of NATO to the Russian border. For Keating, this was recklessness for which the world may yet pay.
"Sensible policy would have included a place for Russia in the new world order," he says. "But that didn't happen. So Russian liberals were pushed to one side by Russian nationalists. In a sense the US has created Vladimir Putin."
Who is responsible? He points the finger at Bill Clinton.
On the 2008 financial crisis, he says former US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan must bear "a fair amount of responsibility".
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029556
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