World Bank Warns That 'More Dangerous Times Will Be Ahead for the Global Economy'

"Islamic banking institutions have not failed per se as they deal in tangible assets and assume the risk," said Dr. Mohammed Ramady, Professor of Economics at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. In May 2000, Saudi Islamic banker His Highness Dr. Nayef bin Fawaaz ibn Sha'alan publicly gave a series of economic lectures in Gulf states. At the time his research showed that Arab investments in the US, to the tune of $1.5 trillion, were effectively being held hostage, and he recommended they be pulled out and reinvested in the tangibles of the Arab and Islamic markets. "Not in stocks, however, because the stock market could be manipulated remotely, as we have seen in the last couple of years in the Arab market where trillions of dollars evaporated," he said. He warned then that it was a certainty that the US economic system was on the verge of collapse because of its cumulative debts, ever-increasing deficit, and the interest on that debt. "When the debts and deficits come due, they just issue new Treasury bonds to cover the old bonds due, with their interest and the new deficit too." The cycle cannot be stopped or the debt cancelled because the US would no longer be able to borrow. The consequence of relieving this cycle would be a total collapse of their economic system as opposed to the partial, albeit massive, crash of 2008. "Islamic banking," said Dr. Al-Sha'alan, "always protects the individuals' wealth while putting a cap on selfishness and greed. It has the best of capitalism - filtering out its negatives - and the best of socialism - filtering out its negatives too." - Tanya Cariina Hsu, Death of the American Empire, Global Research, October 23, 2008

World Bank Warns Against Future Economic Hardship

August 13, 2011

Press TV - Amid the ongoing financial crisis in the United States and Europe, World Bank (WB) President Robert Zoellick has warned that more dangerous times will be ahead for the global economy.

"In the past couple of weeks, the world has moved from a troubled multi-speed recovery to a new and more dangerous phase," Zoellick told the Weekend Australia newspaper on Saturday.

He also said the eurozone's sovereign debt issues were more troubling than the medium and long-term problems that led to the downgrading of the US's rating by the credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's last week.

"We are in the early moments of a new and different storm, it's not the same as [the] 2008 [financial crisis]," he added.

The head of the World Bank urged the European leaders to approach their debt problems with a greater sense of urgency.

"The lesson of 2008 is that the later you act, the more you have to do," Zoellick said.

He also questioned whether troubled European nations could "ever get ahead of the problems that have plagued them."

Zoellick pointed out that the world is now involved in redesigning the international financial system and that power is moving rapidly to fast-growing nations like China.