What International Leaders Have Said About the American Debt Crisis

A lot of world leaders have scolded the US for putting the global economy at risk amid the fiscal crisis and looming debt ceiling deadline. Here are some of the things they said:

"The closer we get to the deadline the greater the impact will be for the developing world."

Jim Yong Kim, head of the World Bank, was quick to appeal to guilt, voicing concerns about poor countries around the world who depend on the economic stability of the U.S. He had even more ominous words for America, saying the world is "days away from a very dangerous moment."

"This cannot happen, and this shall not happen."

Big words came from Baudouin Prot, chairman of the major French bank BNP Paribas, who continued that, "The consequences of this would be absolutely disastrous."

"This would be a very rapidly spreading fatal disease."

Anshu Jain, the co-chief executive of the German Deutsche Bank, suggested that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would be near impossible to prepare for beforehand or respond to afterwards.

Americans "are unable to get their act together" with "problems you have created for yourself in a game of chicken."

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore spoke harshly against U.S. politicians, whose behavior he said would have negative consequences far outlasting the shutdown.

"When you are the largest economy in the world, when you are the safe haven in all circumstances, as has been the case, you can't go into that creative accounting business."

Christine Lagarde, chief of the International Monetary Fund, slammed suggestions like those of Republican Senator Rand Paul that manipulating financing and tax allocation could cover the interest on US debt if the ceiling were not raised. She echoed the concerns of other international organizations that look to America as an economic "safe haven."

"It is apparent that it is extremely dangerous when the politics of a country whose currency is the world currency...are driven primarily by very narrow domestic considerations."

Ewald Nowotny of the European Central Bank chastised the U.S. for focusing too much on its problems at home, saying America is more responsible for the global economy than any other country. He added that "no one knows exactly what will happen" if the crisis is not resolved before the deadline, just that it would be "dramatic."

America's "pernicious impasse" calls for a "new world order" to a "de-Americanized world."

Xinhua, the state news agency of China, aggressively attacked the U.S. in an editorial piece that mocked American leadership and called for a new reserve currency to protect the rest of the world "from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States."

"The administration is doing everything it can to resolve this."

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was a surprising ally to Washington as most of the world moved to criticize the government's handling of the fiscal crisis. In addition to defending the American leadership, Siluanov pressed, "No one benefits from the uncertainty. It's making a negative impact on all countries" - including the U.S.