LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Compromise is the only way forward, former US President Bill Clinton told business leaders and students in Lausanne Sunday night, in a speech at IMD, and that includes resolving the eurozone crisis. “What works in people’s lives are creative networks of cooperation,” he told the crowd of several hundred. He pointed to areas, including some of the world’s poorest, where progress is being made because of cooperation. “Always, there are creative networks of cooperation committed to sustainable economics, good business practice and vibrant civil society.”

Europe’s crisis today with Greece and sovereign debt needs a strong dose of cooperation, and that involves compromise, Clinton argues. “Those principles have to inform what you ultimately do in trying to reach a compromise growth pact in the short run with appropriate levels of semi-restraint and structural reform in the long run, in Europe. That’s what works. Everywhere. And that’s what gets you moving forward.

“There are no perfect solutions in a murky life. What you want to do is bend the arc so you’re going forward every day so when people get up in the morning they have something to look forward to instead of looking in the mirror and feeling despair.”

Clinton in 2005 founded the William J Clinton Foundation.

50,000 march in Dublin against Irish austerity plan

Ireland: rain coming (The Burren, view of Galway Bay, October 2010) - click on image to view larger

Economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has just given the Irish an early Christmas present, some badly needed cheer and praise for a population that doesn’t deserve to be mired down in its current mess.

Meanwhile, 50,000 people took to the streets in Dublin to protest against austerity cuts Saturday 27 November. Krugman likely has some fans in the crowd.

I wish he could come up with a Christmas miracle for them now.

A great read: “Eating the Irish”, NY Times