"Although this crisis in some ways started in the United States, it is a global crisis. We bear a substantial share of the responsibility for what has happened, but factors that made the crisis so acute and so difficult to contain lie in a broader set of global forces that built up in the years before the start of our current troubles"

This quote by Timothy Geithner is describing the worldwide financial crisis of 2008. He acknowledges that the crisis started in the United States, however also acknowledges that it is a worldwide crisis. He acknowledges that the US bears a considerable share of the obligation for what has actually taken place, but likewise acknowledges that there are more comprehensive global forces at play that have actually added to the crisis. He is recommending that the crisis was not just brought on by the US, but by a combination of global forces that had been developing in the years before the crisis began. He is stressing the need for an international response to the crisis, rather than simply a US-centric one.