drawing by marguerita
However easy it is to blame the US for global economic woes, it is also to the US that the world looks for a solution.The general mood in Davos was one of gloom verging on despair. The gloom is justified, as the update of the World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fundmakes plain. Global economic growth is now projected to fall to a mere ½ per cent this year, its lowest rate since the second world war. Output in high-income countries is expected to fall by 2 per cent, the first annual contraction since 1945. Industrial production and merchandise exports are in free fall, as consumers decide they do not need that new car or other goody right now.Concerted action is needed to reverse the downward spiral of despair, and that will only occur if the US gives leadership, writes Martin WolfThe remainder of the article can be read here. Discussion from our forum members and contributors appears below.FT.com | The Economists' Forum | Why Davos Man is waiting for Obama to save him
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Obamagic Is Coming at You......stay tuned..
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Obama,Global Crisis and factoring in the “image”
drawing by margueritaWell, as they said at Boucheron; where the precious stone-bedecked fine jewellery collection inspired by the Folies Bergères was on display, and where a store in Azerbaijan is essentially supported by a single customer, “it only takes one”.
They were genuinely surprised – not offended or chastising about the idea of a profession where the amount of money spent on a single garment is equivalent to many people’s yearly salaries, but taken aback, as though they had simply assumed that of course, given the current state of the global economy, such extravagance would have retreated quietly from the public eye. And since the day the shows opened was a) only a few days after the famed Obama bump failed to save the president’s favourite tailor, Hart Schaffner Marx, from declaring Chapter 11, b) the same day that companies from Caterpillar to Corus announced what amounted to 76,000 job cuts and c) the rulers of the universe at Davos acknowledged that last year they had had no idea how bad things would get, you can understand why.
FT.com / Weekend / Style - Couture is spared from the crisis
