Comment, analysis and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Comment: The future of human beings is what matters
President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva writes he is not worried about the name to be given to the economic and social order that will come after the crisis, so long as its central concern is with human beings.
Put out the fire before fixing the sprinkler
Economists Anil Kashyap and Frederic Mishkin write that when a house is on fire, you put all your initial effort into putting it out. Only after the fire is squelched, do you redesign the sprinkler system.
Philip Stephens: Fix the banks first – and then shoot the bankers
Pursuing the bankers who filled their wallets has been satisfying sport but retribution must be put on hold as it has become a diversion from, and an impediment to, the more important task of fixing the economy.
Insight: The Asian-American balancing act
Stephen Roach, chairman, Morgan Stanley Asia, writes that while it is hard to believe that anything could be worse than what is happening today, “I can assure you the same feeling was evident in late-1998″.
John Authers: Short view
Yesterday’s comment by Warren Buffett, still easily the world’s most respected investor, that the economy had “fallen off a cliff”, only helped to underline a hopeless mood. He had previously garnered headlines during the crisis with calls to buy stocks.
Editorial Comment: The consequence of bad economics
No one can read the chronicles of those earlier crashes without sensing – with a chill – that history is repeating itself.
Lex on Japan’s current account deficit
As Japan’s 13-year-old current account surplus morphed into a deficit in January the prospect that Tokyo will have to pay more when it plans to issue $1,400bn of government debt this year (including refinancing) will surely cause shivers.