Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Philip Stephens: The choice for Obama lies on the road to Jerusalem
The challenge for a US president rests in separating the urgent from the important. I once heard an official in George W. Bush’s National Security Council describe the dilemma. Such is the pressure of events, he observed, that for the White House the long term usually means “later this afternoon”. Most presidents wind up imprisoned by the immediate.
Editorial Comment: Hotheads, cold feet
There is something peculiarly pleasing about scientific research that confirms a widely held opinion based on shakier foundations. That was the case with work published on Thursday in the journal, Nature. Scientists at Cambridge university tested two groups – entrepreneurs and managers – and found that their brains worked in different ways. Even better, the researchers cited earlier work showing that while managers acted their age when it came to risk-taking, entrepreneurs behaved like people 30 years younger, so underpinning another popular suspicion.
Lex on Foreclosure of a dream
Let us return to the root of the financial crisis, the US housing market. It is still rotting. Prices in the 20 cities covered by the Case-Schiller index have been falling for almost two years. Data from RealtyTrac released on Thursday shows that in the month of October alone, a quarter of a million US households received foreclosure filings. In Nevada, a state suffering from some of the worst fall-out from the housing boom, there has been one filing for every 11 homes so far this year. Estimates vary, but roughly a quarter of mortgaged homes in the US are worth less than the debt secured against them.
Opinion: A vision of a more resilient global economy
Mario Draghi, chairman of the Financial Stability Forum, writes: Since the financial crisis began, national authorities have taken unprecedented steps to support banks and revive paralysed credit markets. Upon them falls the task to shape the system that will emerge from this turmoil. The Financial Stability Forum – comprising finance ministries, central banks, supervisors and regulators, the major international institutions and standard-setting bodies – have developed recommendations to build a more resilient financial system.
Opinion: Remember the bottom billion in our brave new world
Bob Geldof writes: This weekend an attempt will be made by world leaders to redesign capitalism. A new financial architecture will be put in place. This effort will fail unless the bottom billion – those living on less than a dollar a day – are invited from the shadows and allowed to work with us in forging our brave new model.
Martin Wolf: What Britain’s authorities must do
In introducing the latest Inflation Report, Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, remarked that “it is very likely that the UK economy entered a recession in the second half of this year”. In fact, it is certain. The question is what the UK authorities can and should do about it.
The Short View on why gold is not shining
Gold shines during crises, as any self-respecting gold bug will tell you. But, in this crisis, bullion is not doing as well as some of its fervent supporters predicted. The price in London yesterday dropped to less than $710 per troy ounce, down 5 per cent since the September collapse of Lehman Brothers.
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