(CNSNews.com) - Discussing his new book, "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means," liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros argued that the current financial crisis is "the most severe since the 1930s."

Soros' book was released Friday. During a conference call with reporters, Soros blamed the current financial situation on a "false paradigm."

"The global financial system, as it is currently functioning, has been built on a false paradigm," he said. "The false paradigm is that financial markets tend toward equilibrium, and deviations from that equilibrium are random. Therefore, markets are self-correcting, and this has led directly to regulators abandoning the role they ought to play - which is to prevent excesses from going too far."