by Gilles d’Aymery
(Swans – April 6, 2009) Last week, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the administration’s latest plan to deal with the financial tsunami, the Public-Private Investment Partnership (PPIP). The stock market soared. Meanwhile, President Obama flew to London to attend the two-day G-20 summit, which, at its conclusion, issued an optimistic communiqué that emphasized the commitment of the respective governments to stabilize the global economy, get back on the road to growth, and create jobs. The market responded with mitigated zeal. The pundits claimed that at long last the bottom had been reached and the worst of times was finally behind us. Time to invest again, they trumpeted. Never mind that the real economy lost over 600,000 jobs in March and that it keeps deteriorating at a fast pace. Hope springs eternal. However, in light of the sheer magnitude of numbers involved in this worldwide financial crisis, the chances that the PPIP plan and the decisions taken by the G-20 will succeed are unfortunately close to nil. The numbers speak for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
In These New Times 