THRISSUR: The American Government concealed the economic crisis faced by the country from its people and the rest of the world until the U S economy collapsed, said S Gurumurthy. Delivering a lecture on the global economic crisis, organised by the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch here on Friday, he said that the US Government concealed the crisis, clear indications of which were visible right from 2006, because of the presidential elections and the world trusted the Americans.
Presenting cogently the fundamental causes that led to the global meltdown, he said that a shift in the policy of saving for spending was the basic cause of the crisis.
He said that for giving a boost to the country’s economy, the U S Government encouraged people to spend the borrowed money and save the least. He said that, to finance the spendingspree of the people, the government borrowed around two billion dollars from the world market every day and borrowing was considered as a credit.
He said that the social security offered by the US Government to the people not only affected the family ties adversely but also made people think that saving was not necessary for their financial security. This led to people spending maximum and investing whatever savings they had in the stock markets. He said that that the basic cause of the crisis was that Americans lived beyond their means.
The crisis in the US economy spread to other countries as the US failed to pay back the money borrowed from them. He said that those invested more in the US were affected more and the countries that were not very close to the US had lesser impact of the crisis.
Gurumurthy said that the global meltdown had not affected the Indian economy because of the integrated social and cultural system prevalent in India. He said that the social system prevalent in the country encouraged strong family relations and inter-dependence among people.
In fact, the credit for this should go to the women of the country, for they never overspent and made their husbands save for the future.
Concluding his speech, Gurumurthy said that it was time to review the American economic model and there should be a shift in the emphasis from consumption to saving.
P Parameswaran and M Mohandas also spoke on the subject. K V Biju, state organiser welcomed the gathering and district convener Rajan P Kulangarath proposed a vote of thanks.