charles i plosser : fiscal policy and monetary policy – restoring the boundaries speech by mr charles i plosser, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of philadelphia, at the us monetary policy forum, sponsored by the initiative on global markets, university of chicago booth school of business, new york city, 24 february 2012. * * * the views expressed today are my own and not necessarily those of the federal reserve system or the fomc. introduction i am pleased to participate in this important forum once again. i am particularly delighted to be a part of such a distinguished panel. this conference has rapidly become one of the premier venues for serious discussions of monetary policy and i am honored to be a part of it. fiscal imbalances during the past year, we have witnessed the ongoing saga of governments, both in europe and in the u. s., struggling with large deficits and soaring public debt. for the most part, these challenges are self - inflicted. they are the result of governments choosing fiscal policies that they knew would be unsustainable in the long run. financial market participants remain skeptical about whether the political process can come to grips with the problems. so far, this skepticism appears to be wholly justified. neither the european nor the american political process has developed credible and sustainable plans to finance public spending. instead, politicians continue to engage in protracted debates over who will bear the burden of the substantial adjustments needed to put fiscal policies back on a sustainable path. in my view, these prolonged debates impede economic growth, in part, due to the uncertainty they impose on consumers and businesses. moreover, the longer the delay in developing credible plans, the more costly it becomes for the respective economies. given the magnitude of the fiscal shortfalls, the way in which the political process restores fiscal discipline will have profound implications for years to come. will there be higher taxes on investments by the private sector that risk reducing productive capacity and output in the future? will there be higher taxes on labor that discourage work effort or hiring? will there be cutbacks in government expenditures on defense or basic research that might force significant resource reallocations and affect a wide array of industry sectors? will there be cutbacks on entitlements that could affect health care, social insurance, and other aspects of our safety net? or will a viable fiscal plan combine various types of tax increases and spending cuts? these are important questions that involve hard choices and trade - offs between efficiency

tarisa watanagase : securing thailand ’ s future with capital market development and the role of the bank of thailand keynote address by dr tarisa watanagase, governor of the bank of thailand, at the thailand focus 2008, bangkok, 17 september 2008. * * * excellencies, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, good morning, i would like to begin by thanking the stock exchange of thailand for inviting me to deliver a keynote address at this year ’ s thailand focus. this annual forum, traditionally opened by the prime minister of thailand, has firmly established itself as the event of the year where domestic and foreign investors meet and interact with thailand ’ s top policymakers and leading listed companies. it is thus not only my great pleasure but also my great honor to be here. ladies and gentlemen, given the turbulent time we are in at the moment, i am very pleased at the number and the composition of this year ’ s turnout. glancing through the list of prospective attendees, i saw participants from asia, australia, europe and north america, representing a large spectrum of investors. this is despite the fact that a number of invited fund managers were forced to cancel their trips due to the declared state of emergency that was lifted on sunday. moreover, i see that many of you have been long - time investors in the thai stock market. all of these are quite reassuring, for they reflect your continued faith in the thai economy. and for those of you who are newcomers, i hope my talk today will give you reasons why you should invest in thailand. my talk today will be divided into three parts. in the first, i will touch on how the bank of thailand sees the thai economy evolving at the moment as well as in the longer term. in the second, i will talk about the role of capital market in the economy ’ s long - term growth. the final part will then highlight the bank of thailand ’ s roles to promote capital market development. let me start with the current picture of the thai economy. as you all know, our real gdp growth moderated from 6. 1 % in the first quarter to 5. 3 % in the second quarter of this year. thailand however was not alone in this development, as most countries in the region, with the notable exception of indonesia, all experienced growth slowdown at varying degrees. in fact, when compared to hong kong, singapore, and taiwan which saw their growth rates cut down sharply from 7. 3 % to 4.