I am wondering where the IMF is with this economic crisis. If the economic crisis was triggered from any country that is not the US, Europe and perhaps Japan, Australia, the IMF will go in and put massive curbs on those countries. Why are they not doing anything with the US in this round? Collateral damage or joined at the hips with the US?
The IMF attaches conditions to its help
Simple, the US is not asking the IMF for help.
If you want the IMF to lend you money on easy terms, they attach some conditions to the loan. The USA is not asking for a loan from the IMF, so they don’t have to follow any conditions.
Simon Johnson interview
Harish — saw your comment on Planet Fedora. You might be interested in the Simon Johnson (ex-IMF chief economist) radio interview that aired on NPR’s Fresh Air on March 3, available as streaming flash audio online:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101360253
Particularly, the comments starting at three minutes in. Part of it is that the US *is* the major shareholder in the IMF, part of it is that the IMF isn’t practiced at dealing with economies the size of the G7. His blog “http://baselinescenario.com/” may also be of interest. –bonnevil
Re: Simon Johnson interview
Thanks for the link. I am listening to it now.