Rescue efforts

Big government fights back

Public debt is rising at its fastest pace since the second world war as governments battle financial crisis and recession. Will the fiscal firepower work?

See article

Readers' comments




The Government cannot do it alone. The only thing government can do is give a boost to the economic engine. We are all praying that it is enough of a kick to free up credit and spur spending at the same time. What is not helping is the continued corruption being realized in our bureaucratic system. It is obvious that our prior administration was so wrapped up in his war projects that the mice were playing. This is going to certainly test the will of America to regain confidence in a severely broken system.
One thing is for sure, tax cuts are beyond the scope of a repair. American's are so afraid of job loss that they are definately going to set aside every dime they get. When exports are deminishing as quickly as imports, it is going to be a long ride out of this one.

g. Anton

The article states "Most economists agree that the red ink is both unavoidable and appropriate." When "most economists agree", that's the time to run for the bomb shelter!In October of 2005, Ben Bernanke that told the congress that they didn't have to worry about the housing bubble busting because the increases in housing prices was based on "very strong economic fundamentals". "Most economists" agreed with this, or at least I heard barely a whimper of decent. In the same time period and beyond, they also agreed with George Bush when he repeatedly told use how good the economy was and what a "solid foundation" it had. As I said, during this whole time period, most economists were either applauding or strangely silent.And what about the presidents of the Fed, that invented this economic cataclysmic mess--Ben Bernanke, Milton Friedman, and their predecessors? Were they not renown economists all?And when an economist comes along who has intelligence, wisdom, intuition, and foresight, he is given a nickname like "Dr. Doom", is made fun of, and is not listened to until it is much too late. (It says in the bible, "Wisdom cries out in the street, but no man listens".


Carissimi Tremonti e Berlusconi
Elenco il totale dei miliardi di dollari impegnati da quattro paesi europei per la crisi:

Gran bretagna 924
Germania 751
Francia 499
Italia 3

Per i dettagli cliccate i paesi nella figura.
La differenza dipende forse dal fatto il 3 italiano e' veramente in miliardi mentre le altre cifre sono in milioni, o forse "the Economist" e' in realt� il "il Comunist" come dice la maggioranza italiana? Ho qualche dubbio anch'io.


Economic predictions, unfortunately, seem to be based on historical data and hence are not necessarily relevant to now and seem unreliable. In principle, what information is required to reliably predict the extent of the recession, country by country and is it plausible for an individual country to isolate itself from the global changes? If not, are there principles each country should follow in terms of what steps it can take unilaterally and what steps must be pursed in concert with global efforts? I ask these question as a cancer researcher who must plan very carefully and seek reliable data for this. I find the uncertanties in economic analysis and predictions at best frustrating and at worstuseless and potentiall dangerous - akin to driving a car by watching the rear view mirror with no sight of the coming terrain. Is it possible to do better?


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