Free Republic

Politicians everywhere promised too much to naive, uninformed electorates and ultimately committed everyone to debtor's prison There is an almost unanimous consensus among economists worldwide that the most worrisome disease infecting somewhat less than healthy and truly sick economies on almost all continents is low, non, or negative growth. How to correct that situation frustrates and consumes the thinking of political leaders and central bankers everywhere, regardless of which economic school provided the latters’ indoctrination. Pushing on strings has failed. Nothing seems to work. Securities markets are described as boring and directionless. It is like being in jail. You may...

Korean Economy Faces Minus Growth Korea's gross domestic product shrank 3.4 percent during the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same period of 2007, the central bank said Thursday. It was the first time since the fourth quarter of 1998, at the height of the Asian crisis, that the Korean economy shrank on a quarterly basis. The announcement shows that the global financial crisis that began in September has spread to Korea's real economy. Korea's economy has shrunk only twice since 1960, when it started industrialization after rising from the ashes of the Korean War, in 1980 (-1.5...