Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Robert Reich: Why Obama must take on Wall Street
It has been more than a year since all hell broke loose on Wall Street and, remarkably, almost nothing has been done to prevent all hell from breaking loose again, writes former US labor secretary, Reich. In fact, close your eyes and you could be back in the wilds of 2007. Bankers are still making wild bets, still devising new derivatives, still piling on debt.
Martin Wolf: What we can learn from Japan’s decades of trouble
Twenty years ago, the conventional wisdom was clear: Japan was the world’s most successful high-income country, says FT columnist Wolf. Few guessed what the next two decades held in store. Today, the notion that Japan is on a long slide is conventional wisdom. So what went wrong? What should the new Japanese government do? What should we learn from its experience?
Insight: Nigel Masters – Lift rates and think about the savers
As the dust settles on the credit crisis, policyholders and pensions savers in the US and the UK have escaped the worst of the financial turmoil, writes Masters, president of the Institute of Actuaries. But the crisis has left interest rates historically low, leaving depositors and savers at a disadvantage.
Lex on the bond bonanza
Bond’s the word. Issuance by European companies soared last year as central banks sprayed liquidity across markets, and investors demanded more bang for their buck.
Steven Sun: China’s consumption power
This year marks the start of China’s Long March – a bold attempt to unleash the consumption power of the nation’s 1.3bn people, says Sun, China strategist at HSBC. While this represents a challenge and significant policy change, he says, it will prove positive for equities in the longer term.
Banquo’s Blog: Whither ISDA
ISDA has a proud but little celebrated role building the plumbing of the derivatives markets, designing and negotiating the templates which frame all of the trillions of derivatives which have been at the heart of the financial crisis. But ISDA has not had a good crisis. Thrust into the spotlight to defend the role of OTC derivatives in the financial crisis, ISDA’s technical experts have found it hard to get traction with legislators looking for quick and easy answers.