Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Martin Wolfe: How Britain flirts with disaster
Is the UK on the road to disaster? Those who believe it is insist that it is mad to tackle a calamity caused by excessive borrowing with still more borrowing, this time by the government as borrower and lender of last resort.
Lex on India’s resilience
As it is likely that there will hardly be a Fortune 500 chief executive who has not lately stayed in the Oberoi or the Taj Mahal, the impact of Wednesday’s news bulletins will be felt in boardrooms around the world in a way.
Editorial Comment: Credit creationism
Financial institutions and households will have to deleverage. The authorities have to find the right balance of policies to smooth this process over time.
Opinion: Our retail therapy is in China, India and Germany
Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, writes: For much of the past three years, as it became evident that the US housing bubble was bursting, I believed that the old adage “the US catches a cold, the world catches pneumonia” would be laid to rest, helped by the emergence of the so-called Brics — Brazil, Russia, India, China.
Opinion: Citigroup bail-out is smart but not risk-free
Frank Partnoy writes: With the latest bail-out of Citigroup this week, the US government has embraced the “super-senior” methodology for its own balance sheet.
The Short View: Keeping faith in agriculture
With low inventories and food demand far less sensitive to the economic cycle than other commodities, prices for wheat, soya or corn are set to rise.
Lombard: Woolies’ useful legacy
It’s easily forgotten but Woolworths was one of the first high-profile companies to signal this autumn that its going concern status was under threat.
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