Saturday, February 14, 2009

From the desk of John Micklethwait, Editor of Economist

Dear Reader, This week could have marked a turning-point in the an ever-deepening
global slump, as Barack Obama produced the two main parts of his rescue
plan: a USD789 billion stimulus plan and his outline for a (probably
even more expensive) bank bail-out. This double offensive could have
broken the spiral of uncertainty and gloom that is gripping investors,
producers and consumers across the globe. Alas, that opportunity was
squandered. Mr. Obama ceded control of the stimulus to the fractious
congressional Democrats, so the fiscal boost is less efficient than it
should have been. The financial-rescue blueprint, touted as a bold
departure from the incrementalism and uncertainty that had plagued the
Bush administration's Wall Street fixes, is depressingly more of the
same: timid, incomplete and short on detail. That is the judgment of
our cover leader this week.

The trouble with Obama's rescue
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/eBkSw0YXipB0Mo0FaZ60Ej


John Micklethwait
Editor in Chief

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