Word: centralism
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...while we certainly face a global slowdown, we may yet avoid another depression. Now, unlike in the Great Depression, central banks and finance ministries know it's better to run deficits and print money than to suffer massive losses of output and jobs. And the introduction of U.S.-style deposit insurance in many countries means banks are less vulnerable to runs by depositors than they once were. Finally, the possibility still exists (though the odds are slimmer than they were a year ago) that the Asian and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds could step in to recapitalize U.S. and European...
...mauled. Some depositors have taken fright, too. A day after the U.K. Treasury announced the nationalization of Bradford & Bingley and the sale of its branches to Spain's Banco Santander, Kusum Patel, a 50-year-old chef from Ilford, a gritty commuter suburb 9 miles (14.5 km) northeast of central London, withdrew all her savings and closed her account, as did several other customers. "They say it's going down. I've been hearing it on the radio," Patel fretted. "I haven't got a great amount of money, but the little bit I have is enough to make...
...strong banks are, but we don't know who the strong banks are exposed to," explains Simon Maughan, banking analyst at MF Global in London. In this treacherous environment, a bank doesn't just worry about its counterparty, he adds, but about its "counterparty's counterparty." The European Central Bank, working together with the Federal Reserve and other central banks, has reacted by making hundreds of billions of dollars readily available to financial institutions, but so far that hasn't broken the vicious circle, and interbank lending remains gummed up. "It's like pushing on a string," says Maughan...
...That realization is causing a rapid shift in economic policies by governments that are increasingly concerned about maintaining growth. A few months ago, the biggest threat appeared to be inflation - running at double-digit rates in countries including Indonesia, India and Vietnam - which led Asian central bankers to hike interest rates, hoping to cool off overheating economies and keep a lid on rising costs. But inflation worries have eased with recent sharp declines in the prices of oil and other commodities. Now policymakers are opening the money taps again. In September China's central bank lowered its key interest rate...
...brought McCain short-term political gain, throwing the normally unflappable Obama off his stride and keeping the Republican nominee very much in the presidential hunt in a dismal year for Republicans. But the tactics also contained the potential for long-term political costs by distracting from, or eroding, the central McCain message. By comparing Obama to a vacuous Hollywood starlet, McCain found a coherent critique of Obama but relinquished his own ability to rise above the political maw. By choosing Sarah Palin, he lit a grass fire of GOP enthusiasm but risked undermining his ticket's claim of having greater...