EconomicCrisis.US

The US economy regained momentum in the fourth quarter of last year, boosted by buoyant exports and the strongest consumer spending in more than four years.

GDP figures released today raised hopes that a sustainable recovery is under way, which will enable businesses to start hiring again.

The world’s largest economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.2% between October and December, according to the US Commerce Department, faster than the third quarter’s 2.6% rate. Economists had expected growth of 3.5%.
Read the rest of this entry »

Twelve months ago, the world leaders who gathered here were still in shock – counting the cost of the financial crisis, and breathing a sigh of relief that their economies were starting to recover. A year later, the focus has shifted, to the new global economic landscape that the crisis has left in its wake – and the threats which it could face in the future.

For the Russian president, who gave the opening address, the threat has been tangible – and not in the future at all. He spoke here yesterday, barely 48 hours after the terrorist attack at Moscow’s main international airport. For the big advanced economies, the threat seems more existential.
Read the rest of this entry »

The United States as a nation must accept blame for causing the financial crisis that engulfed the global economy and cost millions of jobs, a US government-appointed panel reported Thursday.

After 18 months spent reviewing millions of pages of documents, interviewing more than 700 witnesses, and holding 19 days of public hearings, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded bankers, lawmakers and regulators all contributed to the ethical and professional failings that plunged the world into financial panic.
Read the rest of this entry »

While I admired so much of what I heard from the president last night, after the applause dies away, we have to face the next difficult stage of this national conversation. It’s the kind of conversation that gets to the tough decisions and real problems only alluded to last night.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama explained that in the past two years we have faced “the worst recession most of us have ever known.” Historians and economists might differ in how they compare the recent economic crisis to the Great Depression. Nevertheless, Obama’s descriptions of our economic difficulties have a political effect. They lead people to liken him to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president who dealt with the last century’s most profound economic downturn.
Read the rest of this entry »