BBC News
November 3, 2011
Mark the date: 3 November 2011. In Oakland, California, protesters - including workers - have blocked the operation of a major US port; in New York, one of the world's top stockbrokers is bust; in Europe the Greek government is on the brink of collapse, the Italian government in disarray and speculators are short-selling French sovereign debt in the expectation of a domino effect.
In Cannes, amid torrential rain, many of the leaders have adopted the Gallic shrug: what can you do? They had come to work on the fine points of a tactical adjustment to the crumbling world order - but instead, as one markets contact put it to me - all the stories on the news are merging into one big story.
Here is the big story: there is a crisis of globalisation.
Europe and the United States, having handed over to China, India and Brazil the baton of industrial leadership, have spent 20 years failing to adjust their economies, or the expectations of their people, to the consequences. Now - because the impact of the Lehman collapse was never properly contained - those consequences are rapidly unfolding.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment