The Independent

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‘Clueless’ – the German verdict on US policy for recovery
The Independent

Germany’s finance Minister yesterday launched a remarkably frank attack on the US, branding the country’s economic policy « clueless ».

Wolfgang Schäuble was joined in his criticism by the Chinese, who said they were « owed an explanation » for the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to renew its programme of quantitative easing with $600bn of new money.

Mr Schäuble, whose government has presided over a strong rebound in the German economy while calling for European nations to rein back on their budget deficits, said he did not believe the QE initiative would be successful in kickstarting the American recovery, as the Fed hopes.

« They have already pumped endless amounts of money into the economy with extremely high budget deficits, and with a monetary policy which has already pumped in lots of money, » Mr Schäuble said. « The results have been hopeless. With all due respect, [the] US policy is clueless. »