The richest man in America, Bill Gates, said in a television interview yesterday that the US financial crisis does not spell the end of capitalism and will not lead to a depression.
'It's a very interesting crisis,' Microsoft founder told CNN, discussing the US Congress's $700 billion bailout bill for Wall Street which was passed on Friday to stem economic jitters spreading around the world.
The slump triggered by the collapse of the sub-prime housing market requires 'some type of correction,' Gates added, but he said that companies' willingness to invest has not suffered a huge disruption.
'It looks like the economy may go down somewhat, but nothing like a big recession or a depression,' he added.
Gates, who last month topped Forbes magazine's list of the richest men in the US with an estimated $57 billion fortune, said the future of the US and the global economies lies in the resilience and innovative spirit of businessmen and scientists around the world.
Gates retired from Microsoft in June to focus on running the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at fighting disease, reducing poverty, and improving education around the world. He remains Microsoft's largest single shareholder and chairman of company's board of directors.
