Medvedev vs. Obama on the role of Private Sector, Big Government

"Only government can break the cycle that is crippling our economy. The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle."
President Barack Obama - 2009

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the most effective way to resolve a severe economic crisis is through the Private Sector - not big government:



Text:

"Simple and often populist solutions, in ninety cases out of one hundred, are wrong, or prove to be wrong, or perhaps even prove to be worst out of all the possible options. A vivid case in point is a tendency of trying to resolve economic problems through nationalization, including the nationalization of financial institutions.

"In the [recent era and] period of financial crisis, many states paused to think about that, and many states took that option, including states with well developed Liberal economies. Our economy is not developed well enough - I'm referring to the Russian economy - but we have exercised restraint, and we did not resort to that option. And I believe that we were right in doing that.

"I believe that, in most cases, crisis can be resolved through the efforts of private sectors, and, in the long term perspective, this is the most effective way of dealing with things."

"Only government can break the cycle that is crippling our economy. The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle."
President Barack Obama - 2009