Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 21:21:59 -0800 (PST) From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: INDEPENDENT prints about 20 Davos-related stories The INDEPENDENT of Feb 1, 1998, seems to have used the Davos gathering as excuse to publish nearly twenty pieces relating to global finance. You can get into their web page at http://www.independent.co.uk/stories/indint.html but, if you don't have a graphic browser you will only find the following starter. I could use some of these stories to make up a Davos menu , but instead, I'll ask anyone wanting to see a complete piece from among the following to let me know -- they remain available for no more thaan a couple of days. Cheers MichaelP ====================== US warns Europe to cut rates By Jeremy Warner in Davos-- Britain and the rest of Europe are being warned by the US that they risk plunging the world into fresh economic crisis. Robert Rubin, the US Treasury Secretary, said yesterday that Europe must take urgent steps to stimulate domestic demand and bring down trade barriers. Such measures might include further interest-rate cuts...(more) The Global Crisis - Once, his business could do no wrong. Now he weeps for the shame and loss A special investigation into the state of the world's economy Japan - The end of growth To see a Japanese weep publicly is rare, certainly a man as calm and intelligent as Masatoshi Nakajima. For more than an hour he has kept his composure, as he talks about his depression, his thoughts of suicide and the mysterious fevers brought on by stress. ...(more) Hamish McRae - Sadly, there is no magic wand for us to fix it For one week each year the Swiss ski resort of Davos becomes the centre of the world economy. Just about everyone who will help to shape the direction of the economy assembles in Davos for the World Economic Forum. This year there is Al Gore, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers from the US administration. There is Gordon Brown, naturally, and his counterparts...(more) The Global Crisis - Spend, spend, spend in the land of plenty United States - Wall Street has worries "You're not going to get me to predict that the US economy will carry on expanding for another 20 years," says George Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution in Washington. "But it is very healthy." The country's longest peacetime expansion will end only when the Federal Reserve decides it has to start...(more) The Global Crisis - Teddy bears make life a picnic for market's happy retailers Venture inside the Merchandising Mart in downtown Chicago, a 1930s Art Deco monolith so large that it has a postal code all of its own, and you are given a glimpse of the state of the economy in the city and beyond across the American Midwest. Powered by strong consumer confidence, it continues to boom. True, there are areas of weakness. Farming is in...(more) Robert Reich - Clinton's 'solid footing' leaves a lot to be desired "Just about the only people on the planet still buying like mad are Americans, and they cannot keep it up much longer." THE BUDGET of the United States government will run an estimated surplus totalling $4.5 trillion (#2.8 trillion) over the next 15 years. Such long-range estimates are suspect, of course. One cannot possibly predict government revenues...(more) The Global Crisis - Unsettled forecast in barometer of Britain BRIGHT flowers in plastic buckets lined the entrance to Cannongate Shopping Centre in Worcester and Alan Prince, a florist, was busy with secateurs and sheets of paper. There were roses for an elegant, silver-haired woman, spray carnations for another shopping with her friend and a mixed bunch for a third woman complaining about the drizzle. Business was...(more) The Global Crisis - Don't be too terrified by the R-word United Kingdom - Still steady in choppy seas One of the best indicators of an approaching recession is simply the number of times the word is used in the newspapers. The R-word count has shot up since last summer, foreshadowing official figures showing that growth slowed almost to a standstill in the final three months of last year. Yet there is no better...(more) The Global Crisis - Euro launch keeps optimists smiling Europe - One French town's story Anne-Marie Picard pointed out of the window towards a building site and a crane. "I love cranes. Not long ago, you would never see a crane in Valenciennes. Now you see them everywhere. People don't build unless they believe in the future." Ms Picard, 49, runs a small factory making rubber and plastic seals and joints for...(more) Gavin Davies - Deflation can be good for you 'Will this deflation be malign or benign? There are symptoms of both' Deflation is defined as a persistent decline in the prices of goods and services in the economy, usually measured by the consumer price index or the GDP deflator. It must, by definition, be a phenomenon that applies to the entire economy. Most people think of deflation as malign, since...(more) The Global Crisis - The spectre of Weimar hovers, but no Hitler - yet ANYONE looking for proof of Russia's economic disaster need only telephone its official statistics department. Ask how many squillions of roubles are now owed to the country's workers, and how many months these unfortunate people have waited for their money. You might think that as this information is of unarguable public interest, particularly to Russia's...(more) The Global Crisis - The next domino ready to topple? China - Prosperity looks fragile WANDER through many parts of China and what do you see? Shiny new buildings. But look closely - they are often empty or unfinished. You will also spot smartly dressed people with mobile phones. But they walk along streets lined with newly unemployed state workers and jobless farmers desperately hawking goods or their...(more) Jeffrey Sachs - Tell the global financial architects to pay more attention to the poor After a string of financial upheavals in world markets, the main industrial countries have initiated a debate over a new "architecture" for the world economic system. There is, we sense, something seriously wrong with a world economy that has produced deep financial crises in a growing number of countries, and resulted in chronic economic stagnation or...(more) The Global Crisis - Samba effect follows tequila tumble Latin America - Meltdown that matters After Mexico's financial crisis, the money men spoke of "the tequila effect". After Russia's meltdown, the fear was of "the vodka effect." Now, with Brazil in financial turmoil, the analysts are warning of a "samba effect". And, they say, the fall-out from a Brazilian financial collapse could make the Mexican, Russian...(more) Paul Vallely - This terrible agenda of inequalities 'The poor world tried to copy the Asian tigers. Look what happened' Representatives of the rich world have travelled to one of Europe's most expensive ski resorts to discuss a global economy in crisis. The irony would not be lost on the fifth of the world's population that goes to bed hungry every night. Not that most of them will have heard about the 29th...(more) The Global Crisis - Recovery at risk from social pain SE Asia - On the road back Eighteen months into the Asian economic crisis, there are two contradictory points of view about the region's prospects, and the best way of understanding them is to imagine a skyscraper in an Asian capital city. It might be the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur; the Urbannet building in Tokyo, or any of the corporate...(more) Paul Krugman - A monetary fable to fill us all with foreboding ONCE UPON a time, the world had a single currency, the globo. It was generally well managed: the Global Reserve Bank (popularly known as the Glob), under its chairman Alan Globespan, did a pretty good job of increasing the global money supply when the world threatened to slide into recession, trimming it when there were indications of inflation. Indeed, in...(more) The Global Crisis - From big bucks to breadline Before the financial crash came sweeping across Thailand, Sirivat Voravetvuthikun, 49, could be found behind a desk managing an impressive portfolio of investments and promoting a ritzy condominium project. Now he can be seen on the streets of the Thai capital, Bangkok, selling sandwiches. Mr Sirivat is viewed by some as a symbol of the hubris that produced...(more) -- For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
