Conference on the future of capitalism

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, leading a two-day conference with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the future of capitalism.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the system "cannot continue as it is" and called for better-regulated financial markets.

A US Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the U.S. federal budget deficit will hit an unparalleled $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year — and that is before President-elect Barack Obama's sweeping stimulus package is calculated.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Thursday that Paris is planning to inject a second tranche of euro10.5 billion into some of the nation's largest banks in an effort to spur lending.

Sarkozy blamed financial speculators for encouraging a system fueled on debt. He called financial capitalism based on speculation "an immoral system" that has "perverted the logic of capitalism."
"It's a system where wealth goes to the wealthy, where work is devalued, where production is devalued, where entrepreneurial spirit is devalued," he said.
But no more: "In capitalism of the 21st century, there is room for the state," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_france_new_capitalism