EconomicCrisis.US

What better time to hold the World Economic Forum than in the middle of the biggest global economic crisis since 1945? And yet the delegates who make the trek up to Davos this year are more likely to be disorientated than energised by the state of the world economy.

The global economic crisis has raised fundamental questions about the stability of the world economy, about the role of high finance and about the balance of power between the West and the emerging powers. Added to this mix is the new sense of political instability caused by the Arab spring and the outbreak of popular protest from Occupy Wall Street to the streets of Moscow.
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How can we ease Americans’ financial pain and help “return the nation to a “full employment economy”? That’s a question with no easy answers, notes former President Bill Clinton — but government and business leaders can start truly addressing the economic crisis by “building a world of shared prosperity and shared responsibility,” he said during a speech at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York Monday.

In his speech, Clinton offered up some wide-ranging prescriptions for curing the nation’s ailing economy, among them investing in new sectors for job growth — for example, retrofitting buildings so that they’re energy-efficient — supporting high-end manufacturing in the U.S., lowering the tax rate for businesses so they can reinvest in job creation, and “accelerating the resolution of the mortgage crisis” by helping people who owe more on their homes than they’re worth. One way would be to lower the principals on those loans to the value of the homes, he said.
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When former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was ordered to appear Dec. 8 before a House committee investigating the collapse of brokerage MF Global, it was a landmark moment, according to one state senator.

Corzine’s testimony marked the first time that federal officials had taken any action dealing with Wall Street in response to the financial crisis that rocked the world a few years ago, state Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Warren) said in a Dec. 9 news release.

“Following the catastrophic, cascading collapse of major investment banks on Wall Street in 2007, which caused the current global economic recession, the United States Government held no one accountable,” Doherty said. “Nobody was prosecuted, no hearings were held and no reforms were implemented.
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After three years of watching the US economy sputter along at stall speed, it seems long overdue to start revving up.

Don’t bet on it.

There’s been plenty of debate over the past few years: has the US Federal Reserve been doing too much or not enough to revive the economy; did the USD 787 billion government stimulus package help, or was it a waste of money; is a double-dip recession in the wings; should we be worried about inflation or deflation ; is Washington killing the economy with regulation or is business simply gun shy; is tight lending because of a lack of demand, cautious banks, tougher regulations, or all of the above?
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