Larry Elliott

President George W Bush sought recently to boost confidence in the flagging United States economy after a virtual stalling of the country’s job-creation machine triggered fresh fears that the world’s biggest economy is on course for recession in 2008.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, set at the turn of the century, made up the most aspirational development programme ever devised. But a progress report published recently by Unicef says that even though more babies are surviving, more children are in school and fewer families live in poverty, urgent action is needed if the goals are to be met by the target date of 2015.

Once upon a time there were two countries separated by an ocean. One was called China and its people worked long hours to produce cheap goods. The other was known as the United States. Once its people worked hard and it was the workshop of the world. But recently the US had not worked so hard and for every $100 of goods and services produced in its factories and offices, $106 was spent in its shopping malls.

The Federal Reserve, the United States’s central bank, slashed interest rates in a dramatic move designed to prevent the ailing US economy falling into recession. Abandoning its previous hard-line stance against inflation, the Fed cut by half a point both its federal funds rate — the nearest equivalent to the United Kingdom’s base rate — and the discount rate at which banks lend to each other.

Chuck Prince is the chief executive of Citigroup, one of the world’s biggest financial institutions. He is an extremely rich man. Whether he is a wise man, though, is an entirely different matter. I say this purely on the basis of an interview Prince gave to the <i>Financial Times</i> less than three weeks ago, writes Larry Elliot.

Strong earnings from corporate America and optimism that the meltdown in the housing market will be contained sent Wall Street’s yardstick of blue-chip stocks through the 14 000 level for the first time on Tuesday. Less than three months after it scaled the 13 000 mark, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 60 points in early trading yesterday to 14 011 as dealers took heart from rising profits in the financial sector and signs of a pick-up in demand for manufactured goods.

British Finance Minister Gordon Brown announced United Kingdom backing for a global education rapid reaction force designed to provide schooling for millions of African children in war zones or fragile states. In an attempt to replicate the success of the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres in health, Brown will provide £20-million to flood areas where education systems have broken down with “clusters” of skilled personnel.

British finance minister Gordon Brown has announced his country’s backing for a global education rapid reaction force designed to provide schooling for millions of African children in war zones or fragile states. In an attempt to replicate the success of the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres in health, Brown has provided £20-million to flood areas where education systems have broken down with “clusters” of skilled personnel.

Protectionism and ageing populations pose the biggest long-term threats to a golden era of global economic growth that is on course to be the longest period of expansion since the late 1960s and early 1970s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said recently. In its half-yearly health check, the IMF said that there were unlikely to be knock-on effects from the housing-induced slowdown in the United States.

The JSE was looking for an excuse to fall, say market commentators, and on Tuesday, world conditions helped it do just that. Though some investors would have been squeezed out, others saw it as an opportunity to buy cheaper stocks. The local market closed at 26 078,30 on Tuesday, and lost another 1% on Wednesday, to end at 25 796.

Crowning the worst year for the trade deficit since figures for imports and exports were first collected in Stuart times, the United Kingdom government admitted recently that Britain was just under £56-billion in the red last year.Data from the office for national statistics showed that, under Tony Blair, Britain’s trading performance has been worse than under any of his Labour predecessors.

Three years ago <i>Time</i> magazine carried an article by James Cramer, the founder of <i>TheStreet.com</i>, an online magazine dedicated to the worship of Mammon.

The fate of a collapsing country rides on an anti-poverty plan that some fear may not be enough.