In The News

China to the Rescue: Growing Out of the Financial Crisis

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller July 28, 2009
The global financial crisis is far from over, and Joergen Oerstroem Moeller argues for a stimulation in global demand. Unfortunately, the big drivers of demand growth in the past – primarily the US, but also Japan and Europe – each face major hurdles sufficiently large to suggest they won’t be the engines of growth in the immediate future. So Moeller recommends looking to China. Critics counter...

A Retreat From Global Banking

Floyd Norris July 24, 2009
Globalization seems to be receding in the world of banking not because the banks themselves have turned inward, but because governments are now more local in focus. Moreover, the desire or need to find a scapegoat for the crisis has also chipped away at globalization’s edifice: the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in the US have had to defend in Congress their actions during, rather than their...

Insight: The Perils of De-Globalisation

Joe Quinlan July 23, 2009
The recent economic data suggest that the fallout from the financial crisis has abated and is nearing a bottom thanks, in part, to stimulus measures taken by countries around the globe. Yet, according to the author, it is these very stimulus packages that may undermine the global economy in the long run. By filling stimulus plans with “buy local” mandates, the US and other wealthy nations could...

Fading of the Dollar’s Dominance

Anthony Faiola June 26, 2009
A number of experts believe the US dollar is unlikely to retain its title as the world’s reserve currency due to structural changes in the global economy and the mounting US deficit. For instance, China appears to be taking a stronger stance on the yuan’s global role, though the currency remains relatively unusable in large international transactions. Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund is...

From General to Government Motors: Can GM Return to its Former Glory?

William J. Holstein June 25, 2009
The tale of General Motors may provide the inspiration for many a business parable. But according to author William J. Holstein, GM’s downfall started in the 1980s when the company failed to view as credible the threat of Japanese automakers and the tectonic shift in auto production to lean manufacturing. Couple this with outsized medical benefits for current and retired employees and a...

Economic Downturn Fuels Human Trafficking

Howard LaFranchi June 22, 2009
The global economic recession has resulted in a rise in human trafficking, according to a US State Department report. The report, issued annually and covering 2008, cites 52 countries and territories for failing to combat human trafficking, up from 40 the previous year. While the rise was caused in part by an increase in the number of countries included in the report and the higher standards by...

Soft Market for Cashmere Takes Toll in China

Keith Bradsher June 22, 2009
The global economic crisis is now starting to be felt in even remote countries like China’s Inner Mongolia and normally less cyclical professions like goat herding. Demand for cashmere sweaters knit in China and exported to the US and Europe is down 30 percent this summer, causing raw cashmere prices to fall 50 percent and forcing many Mongolian goat herders to sell their flock to make ends meet...