WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is exploring ways to assist Georgia’s economy including how global financial institutions can help limit economic damage caused by the conflict with Russia, a senior U.S. Treasury official said Friday. Assistant Treasury Secretary Clay Lowery said the situation in Georgia was “fluid” and it was hard to know how much harm was done to the economy and investor confidence since the crisis erupted over the breakaway South Ossetia region.
“We want to be supportive of the Georgia economic situation going forward and that includes bilateral and multilateral needs,” Lowery said in an interview with Reuters. While the White House has flexed its political muscle to force Russia to pull troops out of the region, the U.S. Treasury has tried to reassure investors over Georgia’s young democracy. “The most important thing is for the fighting to stop (but we also) want to ensure there is confidence so that investor flows continue,” Lowery said.
Three institutions said this week they stood ready to help Georgia’s government, which they said had acted to tackle corruption, quicken privatization and created a business-friendly environment that increased capital flows. The World Bank’s Doing Business survey named Georgia the leading reformer in the world in 2006. Given the current circumstances, Lowery said it was understandable for investors to worry about the situation but he urged them to look at Georgia’s record of reforms and economic management.
“We in the United States, but also the financial institutions, can shore up a little bit of confidence for the private investor community that we are going to continue putting public investment in there,” he added. The U.S. government’s main development fund, the Millennium Challenge Corp (MCC), has agreed to invest $295 million over five years in Georgia to develop roads and railway links and boost assistance to farmers and agribusinesses. The U.S. has also agreed to provide more than $3.6 million in aid and medical supplies to Georgia to help people dislodged by the conflict.
There was a saying my father had, “this is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.” But it never seemed to end that way…Update: Joe Biden wants a Billion for this nutter.
We need to start helping ourselves.
http://www.iousuathemovie.com/
We are already technically bankrupt while ALL our politicians are still buying votes by making unsupportable promises. A very dark day is coming, faster and faster all the time.
RIP-USA.
Where you been for the last sixty or so years? Our federal government has been and is now the best government money can buy. Government of the money, by the money, and (most definitely)for the money
bobbo said, on August 19th, 2008 at 7:29 am
We need to start helping ourselves.
http://www.iousuathemovie.com/
We are already technically bankrupt while ALL our politicians are still buying votes by making unsupportable promises. A very dark day is coming, faster and faster all the time.
RIP-USA.
As far as blunders go… $1B is a bargain.
Oh man not another thing about Georgia. I couldn’t follow the last post about who was the bad guy and who is the good guy. Although I do thank whoever simplified it, but you may have over simplified it. Unless I just cant care
Why are Americans obsessed with nation building? This seems like something that the far left and far right can agree on.
Interesting how Bush/Cheney can come up with “RESCUE PACKAGES” for Georgia so soon, while he left New Orleans to ROT FOR SO LONG !!! Oh, but the Georgians have something to do with Oil, and New Orleans had none, so the “Oilmen” from Texas have their priorities sorted !!!
If the real value of assets keeps plummeting at the same time that our Congress and President are so intent to give away as much of our money as possible to corporate and international failures, we may actually reach that perfect nexus of inflation and deflation in which there is no money, and that money is worth nothing.
more money, for MORe weapons..
If you don’t want to have the gov’t throw your $ down rat holes then support an Amendment to keep the gov’t from accessing your pocketbook. Until then why are you complaining?
Gov’t will AWAYS spend every penny they can get a hold of. Like a crack addict.
“Gov’t will AWAYS spend every penny they can get a hold of. Like a crack addict.”
Many governments actually bank a surplus over the years. It might be more true to say that the US government will always spend every penny they can get ahold of. That is if they weren’t actually spending vast quantities of money that they don’t even have, on credit.
They do understand that THIS Georgia is not the political swing state they are thinking of, right?
#12 “That is if they weren’t actually spending vast quantities of money that they don’t even have, on credit.”
All too true!
#13 “They do understand that THIS Georgia is not the political swing state they are thinking of, right?”
I think they got confused when Omama started campaigning for the EU vote…
Piss on them, they should either sink, swim, or get out of the pool.
#16 Amen, and may we apply the same logic to GM, Ford, Fanny and Freddy, and all the sundry banks that can’t manage their own money worth crap. Rewarding failure with government handouts mandates the creation of more failure, because you always get more of what you subsidize.
So NOW the left is against foreign aid?
“Many governments actually bank a surplus over the years.”
Which governments? How much? What years?
#17. MikeN- You clean your own house first. What the hell is wrong with you? I thought YOU were a conservative.
#11 – O’Furniture
>Gov’t will AWAYS spend every penny they can get
>>a hold of. Like a crack addict.
Check out the Clinton administration.
#17 – Lyin’ Mike
>>So NOW the left is against foreign aid?
I know this “nuance” thing is a little hard for ya. But follow the bouncing ball:
1. There’s a difference between giving foreign aid to the good guys and giving it to the bad guys.
2. With Dumbya’s record as the anti-King Midas, where everything he touches turns to sh|t, I wouldn’t support him giving fifty cents to the Salvation Army. He’d find some way to f^ck it up.
So no. The “left” is not against foreign aid. We’re just against pissing away money supporting tie-eaters who invade other countries just because the can (or could, until “Vladimir” and his forces put a stop to it).
MikeN is not a conservative, he is a radical boot licker. And there is no amount of double think which is too much to take when he’s licking those tasty boots.