The Chamber's letter to the G8. Greed is good we want more of it.

[Joanne98]

Recommendations to the G8

by Myron Brilliant

As leaders of G8 are gathering for their 2009 Summit in L’Aquila on 8th July under the Italian Presidency, the largest and most representative G8 Business associations urge renewed attention to three major issues: the response to the financial and economic crisis, free trade and investment and the need to tackle climate change. We stand by our recommendations delivered to G8 Presidency on 24th April 2009 in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy, and encourage political leaders to treat business community as partners in addressing the most urgent challenges of today and the driving force in resuming economic growth.

1. The response to the financial and economic crisis.

Governments must increase international coordination on an ongoing basis - involving the leading emerging economies and the G20 - on economic policies and fiscal stimulus measures. The emergency measures currently deployed to counteract the financial crisis will need to be unwound in a way that does not create new serious impediments to entrepreneurs. Policy choices should ensure the credibility and reliability of international financial markets and rejection of protectionism in all fields. Basel II should be reviewed to reduce its pro-cyclical effects while the IMF’s role and capacities must be further enhanced. Regulation must strengthen and encourage transparency while not impeding responsible innovation in financial markets. Enhanced public disclosure for market operators (investors, authorities) should also be provided.

G8 Business calls on governments to review the cross-border supervision of rating agencies in order to carry out the necessary oversight manage conflicts of interests and assure transparency and quality to the rating process. A common system of public support for trade insurance should be established to ensure that companies have access to the necessary levels of trade credit, while avoiding competitive distortions. Financial reporting and fair value measurement must be differentiated according to stakeholders’ interests, type of financial instruments and relevance of the measurement model for the users, in order to balance the cost of new accounting rules and the benefits of disclosure.

2. Free trade and investment.
http://www.chamberpost.com/2009/07/recommendations-to-the-g8.html

[create.peace]

1. these are the scariest people in dc....

they are the first and second largest lobbying entities, and oft ignored by press and progressives!

[GliderGuider]

2. Don't forget the role of the Chamber of Commerce in promoting the Powell Memo recommendations

By kick-starting the neoconservative movement, the Powell Memo was responsible for much of the destruction wreaked upon American society since it was written for the Chamber in 1971. It was the smoking gun that fired the shot through the heart of America.

http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_memo_lewis.html

Though Powell's memo was not the sole influence, the Chamber and corporate activists took his advice to heart and began building a powerful array of institutions designed to shift public attitudes and beliefs over the course of years and decades. The memo influenced or inspired the creation of the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in Academe, and other powerful organizations. Their long-term focus began paying off handsomely in the 1980s, in coordination with the Reagan Administration's "hands-off business" philosophy.

http://thwink.org/sustain/manuscript2/PowellMemo.htm

The Powell Memo was the precipitating event for the swift rise and astounding success of neo conservatism in the United States, starting in the early 1970s. The memo presented a bold strategy for taking over the key portions of the system, without the other side knowing what was happening. Unless they have read the memo, they still don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powell_Memo

The Powell Memorandum, authored in 1971, was a memorandum written by Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. to Eugene B. Sydnor, Jr., Chairman, Education Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The memo called for corporate America to become more aggressive in molding politics and law in the United States and may have sparked the formation of one or more influential conservative think tanks. The memorandum was dated August 23, 1971, two months prior to Powell's nomination by President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court.