Selections From The Economist - Print Edition

Clueless in Washington

It was never reasonable to expect that Barack Obama’s budget proposal, delivered to Congress on February 1st, would do much to bring down America’s vast deficit in the near term.

Stimulating debate

As January goes, so goes the year. That old stockmarket saying does not augur well for 2010, given that the MSCI World index fell by 4.2% in the month, the biggest decline...

Rebuilding Greece’s finances

Since the launch of Europe’s single currency, there have been theoretical worries about profligacy. The main fear was that free-spending countries (ie, Italy) might borrow excessively....

From bail-out to bail-in

What should policymakers do when faced with the potential failure of a large bank? In 2008 officials had to choose between taxpayer bail-outs or systemic financial collapse.

At last, GM finds a buyer

Deathbed reprieves do not get any more dramatic than the agreement reached by General Motors on January 26 to sell Saab, its Swedish subsidiary, to Spyker Cars, a boutique Dutch maker of sports cars.

From the premature talk of green shoots to—at last—an anaemic crop, Britain’s economic recovery has been a long time coming. First there was the disappointment when the economy carried on sliding in the third quarter of 2009, making Britain’s downturn the longest among the G7 countries.

Can Kan?

The situation has “completely changed,” says an ebullient Keisuke Tsumura, an elected official in the newish government’s Cabinet Office. The Bank of Japan “has redefined its understanding of price stability.

Budget day

A meeting between Barack Obama and Republican members of the House of Representatives last week proved to be an unusually frank, if polite, affair.

Fading trading

In, out, shake it all about. Last year was a terrible one overall for global trade. Volumes fell by 14.4%, according to the World Bank. But that figure masks whipsawing activity...

Stage prop

For investors the most dangerous words in the English language are “this time it’s different.” For governments and financial policemen they are “never again.” Yet that is what...

Still talking, at any rate

Being a president and not a journalist, Barack Obama buried the lead. But for all his talk about creating jobs and taming the deficit, the big news in his State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill this week was that despite the Democrats’ recent stunning loss of Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts seat...

Steve Jobs and the iPad of hope

The move from print to digital has not been easy for newspaper or magazine publishers. Readers have proved reluctant to pay for content on the web. Companies are unwilling to pay as much for online advertisements as paper ones—hardly surprising, given the amount of space on offer.

When calamity strikes

Natural disasters strike rich countries as well as needy ones, but the trail of devastation they leave behind is usually far greater in poor places. Worse, insurance payouts cover a much larger chunk of the costs of recovery in rich countries than in poor ones, where few individuals or companies take out disaster cover.

The weakest links

It is bonus season again. Bankers get bashed and governments invent ways to tax them, most recently Barack Obama’s plan to charge banks an annual insurance fee. Amid all the rancour, some say it is important to regain a sense of perspective.

The spirit of enterprise fades

China’s remarkable resurgence began three decades ago with the designation of Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, as a “special economic zone”. Businesses in the zone were free...

Pulling apart

A year ago almost every economy in the world was being walloped. The degree of pain varied. In rich countries output plunged; in China and some other emerging economies growth..

Invested interests

ASIA’S current-account surpluses have been widely blamed for causing the global financial crisis. Large inflows of foreign money helped inflate America’s housing bubble, the argument runs.

Chocs away

The intervention of a government minister in Kraft’s battle to buy Cadbury says much about the strength of British feeling for their favourite chocolate-maker. The American food giant’s sweetened offer, too toothsome to turn down, was accepted by Cadbury’s board on Tuesday January 19th.

Digging out of debt

Deleveraging is an ugly word for a painful process. But few things matter more for the world economy than whether, and how fast, the rich world’s borrowing is cut back. History suggests that severe financial crises are usually followed by long periods of debt reduction—in which credit falls relative to the size of the economy.

Mass appeal

It was a sign of how bad Democratic expectations were for the Senate race in Massachusetts that the knives were out even before the polls had closed.

Policy punchbags

Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve’s Dallas regional bank, did not hold back. Invoking the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe, he warned on January 12 that for Congress to tamper with the Fed’s independence would lead “directly to economic ruin.”

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