The U.S. market is much better prepared for terror

U.S. Treasury John Snow said on Thursday about a new terrorist attack against America, that if it happened, it would be less destructive for the U.S. financial markets than the attack of 11 September 2001.

While the interview program "Nightly Business Report", Snow said the U.S. authorities have worked hard with representatives of American financial markets, which actually closed down the national economy within a week or so after the attacks of September 11.

"I'm not sure we ever will be fully prepared for this, but we are certainly now much better prepared for such a tragic, horrific events, as were two years ago," he said.

A Snow interviewed after reports that Al Qaeda may be linked to the explosion on Thursday in Spain, which killed nearly 200 people and many more injured. The letter implied that the group, which is related to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In response to a question, Snow said that he did not think that the Spanish attack, which alienated the enthusiasm of investors in markets around the world, damage the national economic recovery. "I think that Americans understand how we are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, and that we stepped up the infrastructure, we have made it much more rigid and the prospects for a successful act of terrorism today is much lower," said Snow. "But we can not completely eliminate it, which is why we must always take care of our security," he added.

On other issues, Snow said he remains confident that China will move towards a more flexible currency by changing the current system of tying the yuan to the dollar. "I think they really want to do it. They realize that in order to be able to move for a revaluation, the flexibility that they say they intend to implement, they should strengthen the financial infrastructure," he explained.

China must create a package of their bad debts and sell them to investors as well as to strengthen its banking system, said Snow, adding to signs that they started to do so and recognized the need to tighten regulation of financial systems.

By (Reuters.com)