Ben Bernanke

By Samah El-Shahat in Business on October 25th, 2009
Photo by AFP

I am in crisis. My back is out of whack. I have lower back pain that would test the mental and physical endurance of a long distance runner and a nun combined.

My physiotherapist has urged me to "find balance in my life". I need to realign my back, strengthen my “core” muscles, and listen to my body. Finding inner harmony - spiritual, physical and psychological – she says - is the only way of resolving the crisis that is my back.

What I suffer from, in economics speak, is “structural”. It requires change that is deep rooted if I am ever going to realign and rebalance my back to get on with my life. And this got me thinking, about “rebalancing”. It seems to be the “it” word of the post-crisis world.

By Teymoor Nabili in Business on August 26th, 2009

Japan's export numbers may have beaten economists' expectations, but they are still terrible; down 36.5% YOY in July. 

"Declines in shipments accelerated in all major regions: Exports to China fell 26.5 percent, shipments to the U.S. slid 39.5 percent and those to Europe slumped 45.8 percent, according to today’s report. "

Even as President Obama praised Ben Bernanke for staving off a depression in the US, numbers like this show that US consumers are still keeping their wallets firmly closed, and that means the prospects for countries like Japan remain gloomy indeed, recent GDP figures notwithstanding.

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