Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
George Magnus: Five good reasons to be optimistic
Magnus, senior economic adviser at UBS, outlines various ways to restart the global economy.
Niall Ferguson: Global economy and the age of obligation
Ferguson, professor at Harvard Unviersity writes: The ancients cancelled debts every 50 years. What are the options nowadays?
The Short View, video: Trend reversals in 2008
John Authers discusses oil prices, bank shares and market expectations for corporate earnings.
Lombard: More capital will not make banks back business
Andrew Hill outlines a proposal to get UK banks to lend again.
View of the day: Deleveraging is damaging confidence
Halting the tidal wave of deleveraging that is sweeping markets is paramount if policy moves to restore the financial system are to work, says Jonathan Wilmot, chief global strategist at Credit Suisse.
Economists’ forum: Normality is just a few steps away
Economic agents of all sorts, from creditors to consumers, are frozen waiting for some sense of normality to be restored amid the financial crisis. But normality is just a few bold policy steps away, says Ricardo Caballero, head of the department of economics at MIT.
Lex: Undeserving bailouts?
Peter Mandelson, Britain’s business secretary, is contemplating a bail-out of Jaguar Land Rover. It is hard to imagine a less deserving candidate.
Editorial comment: The SEC needs Schapiro
Mary Schapiro is entering a lion’s den. But as Barack Obama’s choice to chair the SEC, he experience as a regulator and tough-mindedness will be sorely-needed.
Letters to the editor:
- A seasonal lesson in short-selling Christmas trees.
- Bubbles built up over 10 years don’t pop in a day.
- Wrong conclusions about the eurozone.
View from the top, video: Redemptions and Madoff
Andrew Feldstein, CEO of BlueMountains Capital Management, discusses the impact of the Madoff scandal on hedge funds and the growing call from investors for redemptions.