Global credit crisis is like 9/11, says New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg
In a speech in London, Mr Bloomberg said that the global economy was "facing the worst confidence crisis in our lifetime", adding that "the pain is going to be spread far and wide".
He told an audience in the City of London: "It is going to affect anyone who wants to borrow money to buy a car or a house or to expand their business or take out a student loan.
"Millions of people are just not going to be able to do those things - and millions of people who carry a balance on their credit cards are going to see their costs go up, or their credit limits slashed.
"There's no sugar coating this - it's bad. And it's only going to get worse as more and more jobs are lost."
Mr Bloomberg said that he hoped that comparisons with the Great Depression were "grossly overstated", especially when it came to working out what to do next.
But Mr Bloomberg, who was speaking after receiving the Freedom of the City of London, compared the severity of the crisis to the impact of the terrorist attacks on New York on 6 September 2001.
He said: "The better analogy to make - at least in terms of how we should be thinking about our next steps - might be to a terrible crisis that is far more recent: the attacks of September 11th."
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He told an audience in the City of London: "It is going to affect anyone who wants to borrow money to buy a car or a house or to expand their business or take out a student loan.
"Millions of people are just not going to be able to do those things - and millions of people who carry a balance on their credit cards are going to see their costs go up, or their credit limits slashed.
"There's no sugar coating this - it's bad. And it's only going to get worse as more and more jobs are lost."
Mr Bloomberg said that he hoped that comparisons with the Great Depression were "grossly overstated", especially when it came to working out what to do next.
But Mr Bloomberg, who was speaking after receiving the Freedom of the City of London, compared the severity of the crisis to the impact of the terrorist attacks on New York on 6 September 2001.
He said: "The better analogy to make - at least in terms of how we should be thinking about our next steps - might be to a terrible crisis that is far more recent: the attacks of September 11th."