It might neither be time for an international symphony orchestra

Sir you hold that a global financial crisis requires global co-operation and therefore it is “Not a time for a one man-band” January 22. But, whether we are able to stimulate the right kind of projects that will serve sustainable growth, or hand out the most efficient tax-rebates that produce the most suitable demand that will all, at the end of the day, no matter how much international cooperation there is, depend almost exclusively on the very local capacity to implement. Of course it cannot be a one-man band; it has to be a very well rehearsed local symphony orchestra.

I cannot refrain from reminding you again that I bet my last shirt on that we would all have been better off without that international cooperation called the Basel Committee. Of course “no country will escape this storm on its own” but that is no valid reason to jump all in the same life-boat. That each country while implementing their own rescue plans needs to consider the international implications carefully, that is a totally different question.

Having considered the Financial Times a defender of free financial markets, by which, just in case, I do not mean unregulated markets, I find it somewhat bewildering to see it championing global financial central planning. Should we not better reserve that for the fight against climate change?