Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
The fiscal cure may make the patient worse
Leszek Balcerowicz, the former president of the Polish central bank, and Andrzej Rzonca, an adjunct professor at the Warsaw School of Economics warn that consumers should not be regarded as Pavlov’s dogs, automatically responding to stimuli offered by politicians.
David Pilling: Prudent Asia unlikely to bail out the west
Pilling writes after decades of predicating growth on piled-up savings, Asians must now start spending some of their hard-earned cash on themselves.
Editorial Comment: Muddling through a middling slump
On how Japan in its economic weakness is paying the price for its reliance on growth overseas.
Lex on Fed bonds
These are extraordinary times at the Fed. But the mooted idea of the Fed issuing its own bonds for the first time may well prove an initiative too far.
Europe has to guard democracy amid crisis
Anatol Lieven, senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington, explains how t he present financial crisis, together with the end of the Bush administration, draws a line under the era that began with the end of the cold war.
John Gapper: Who will mourn local newspapers?
Gapper writes they say that journalists prefer bad news to good news, but with plenty of that close to home it’s becoming a terrible week for the US newspaper industry.
Dear Lucy, do I have to go to our hideous Christmas party?
Lucy explains how the main risk posed to one’s career by the Christmas party is not from failing to show up, it’s from showing up and then throwing up.