Word: parlous
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...over the last several months, something funny has been happening in the commodities trade. After spectacular plunges, the prices of oil, copper, palm oil and others are rallying. This shouldn't be happening given the parlous state of the world economy. The International Monetary Fund this week cut its global growth forecast for 2009, predicting GDP would contract by 1.3%, the most severe recession since the 1930s. Yet oil is some 50% more expensive now than in December. Palm oil, which is used in a wide variety of manufactured foods, has surged by about 50% this year. "The only area...
...There is little that is surprising about this. It has long been Mexico's fate to make it onto the front pages of U.S. newspapers only when the news from there is bad. Pessimists could add to the drug wars the parlous state of the Mexican economy - dragged down, as it is, by its close ties to that of the U.S. Alfredo Coutino of the Dismal Scientist projected this week that Mexico could contract by 4% to 5% this year, maybe more, which would put its recession in the same bottom tier as other hard-hit economies such...
...that meant being practical." Unlike many of his contemporaries, Manuel made an easy transition from revolutionary to democrat. Released in 1989, he helped the ANC negotiate a peaceful end to apartheid. As minister he inaugurated a program of white-to-black wealth redistribution, only to temper it when the parlous state of public finances demanded he target growth and cut debt...
...director Danny Boyle. Eleven years ago, Beaufoy was Oscar-nominated for another screenplay about underdogs going public, The Full Monty. Boyle has often dealt with the plight of the working-class young, notably in Trainspotting and Millions. Both men know how to mine poor folks in parlous straits for humor and heartbreak...
...rest of the world. It also means becoming a bit more like the U.S., where factory jobs have over the years been supplanted by the growth of the service sector and knowledge-based companies. China's need to emulate America may seem counterintuitive at the moment, given the parlous state of the U.S. economy. But it is precisely because tapped-out American consumers have stopped buying Chinese-made goods that this economic rebalancing act needs to proceed with haste. The country's factories need new customers. Chinese consumers can fill that void, by spending more and reducing their stratospherically high...