Former Assistant Secretary of State Otto Reich warns that a U.S. debt crisis would touch off a global economic catastrophe and could have unimaginable consequences. Reich tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview that the United States has “an enormous economic footprint” because it produces and consumes nearly a quarter of all products sold globally.
“If we were to have another economic crisis — I mean, look what happened three years ago, in 2008 when we had the financial meltdown,” Reich tells Newsmax.
“The entire world came practically to a standstill. A lot of Americans don’t know that, but my private business is international trade. And I can tell you that there were many, many companies that just completely shut down around the world,” says Reich, who served in the administration of President George W. Bush.
“They still have not recovered in some parts of the world from the 2008 meltdown,” Reich said. “And if the United States were to have a serious debt problem, you know, God forbid, I think the results would be catastrophic . . . certainly for the Western Hemisphere.”
Mexico and Canada would be particularly hard hit, Reich said, adding that the United States is “the locomotive that drives this train.”
“If that train runs out of fuel, runs out of coal, or whatever it happens to be running on, you could imagine what would happen to the rest of the world,” he said.
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