Soros: Global financial markets built on a "false pretense"

SHOOT: And chief among the pretenders are the Goldman Sachs boyz.

clipped from www.reuters.com Soros, who earned $1 billion in 1992 by betting against the British pound, said current currency arrangements are "fraught with danger." He said that the globalization of financial markets was built on a "false pretense" that financial markets could be left to their own devices and said global regulation was needed. "That is a tremendous challenge," he said at an event sponsored by the Economist magazine held at the New York Stock Exchange. Soros spoke only hours after the U.S. Treasury Department said that China is not manipulating its currency but is piling up foreign exchange reserves at a rate that threatens progress in reducing global economic imbalances. Turning to the world economy, Soros said "the world economy is going to have some growth, but we are bound to be flat." He also said the U.S. is going to be a drag on world growth. In China, Soros said he also believes there is a something of an asset bubble.