Global decoupling theory seems to have died down
December 16, 2008 00:00:00
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Dec 15: With the recent sharp decline in Chinese manufacturing output, the global decoupling theory seems to have died a well-deserved death. The idea that developing nations have become less dependent on US economy and so are insulated from the US crisis was based on a potent of combination of bad analysis and wishful thinking, an analyst wrote in a well reputed newspaper today.
The fact remains the global economy revolves round the US economy. This theory stands firm and erect as before. The recent avalanche of the economic slowdown worldwide has reconfirmed the theory that the US economy is the driving force. the economic pain for Asian nations will be high and potentially destabilising.
The Asian nations in a desperate bid to off set the grim economic future will apply measures such as export subsidies, subsidising financing, currency depreciation, import tariffs to boost their export earnings, the analysts said.
There is no end to the bad news in the US. Credit Card is the lifeline of the US economy. Fed Reserve is planning to overhaul the $970 billion credit card industry to 'protect the interest' of the borrowers. The proposed rules will impose strict disclosure standards on credit card lenders and 'prohibit common pricing practices that have drawn fire for exposing borrowers to unforeseen costs'.
The new move would require the lenders to give borrowers more time to pay their bills and more notice of changes to interest rates in future. The tighter lending standards could put credit cards out of reach of consumers. There are an estimated 45 million people who use credit cards.
The credit card business may suffer a shrinkage to the extent of $931 billion. As consumers continue to worry about the safety of their deposits, banks and financial institutions are running advertisements to allay the fears of the depositors. The banks are offering clients gifts to reassure the panic clients. There is no branch of business that has remained unaffected by the economic turmoil.
Politico, the upstart news source from Washington and Reuters the venerable wire service have joined forces to offer articles to newspapers and sell advertising on the papers' web sites, the latest step in the rising competition among electronic media to fill void left by the shrinking print business, the New York Times reported today. Politico has been offering free articles to the newspapers.