A Load Of Bull
According to its CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs is doing "God's work." This quote, care of the LondonTimes(though delivered in irony, according to Goldman Sachs) was met with bewilderment at a Chinese business conference in Lisbon last week, where foreign CEOs and government officials were dumbstruck by the hubris. Many of the attendees blame Wall Street bankers like Goldman for the global financial meltdown and think the U.S. is doing a bad job of cleaning up the mess. "Do you think those quotes were made up?" asked one incredulous Latin American participant. But America's diminished position in the world was even better illustrated by how quickly the Blankfein banter faded and talk turned to China's growing clout. Goldman Sachs itself is now predicting that Chinese GDP will overtake that of America by 2027. This year, China has surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest generator of investment capital, around $2 trillion compared to America's $1.4 trillion, according to economist John Ross. Much Chinese cash is pouring in to Africa and Latin America. Amadou Hott, CEO of Nigeria's UBA Capital, said his country's future was "now more tied to the East than the West." China's growth is the reason that Latin America and Africa, for the first time in modern history, haven't been the worst hit by a global downturn. During one session in Lisbon, a Chinese entrepreneur was asked to offer advice to Barack Obama on the eve of his visit to Beijing. The answer: Get your daughters a Mandarin tutor.
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Rana Foroohar is the deputy editor in charge of international business and economics coverage for Newsweek. She conceives and edits a weekly section of breaking news stories, features and guest articles. She also writes economic cover stories and opinion pieces, and pens a bi-weekly column on the global economy.
Foroohar oversees Newsweek's team of global correspondents and stringers, directing their reporting on the week's business news. She edits regular columnists such as hedge fund manager Barton Biggs, Morgan Stanley emerging markets head Ruchir Sharma, Yale professor Jeffrey Garten and PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian. She is in charge of economic coverage for Newsweek's annual Davos special issue, which features pieces by world leaders and economic thinkers, and also chairs panel discussions while at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Prior to taking this New York based position in 2007, Foroohar spent six years as Newsweek's European Economic Correspondent based in London, covering Europe and the Middle East. During this time, she was awarded the German Marshall Fund's Peter R. Weitz Prize for transatlantic reporting. She has also worked as a general editor at Newsweek, a reporter for Forbes magazine, and as a writer and editor at various other national and international publications. Foroohar graduated in 1992 from Barnard College, Columbia University, with a B.A. in English literature. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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