Global crash fears as German bank sinks

Stockbrokers around the world are braced for a potentially calamitous week as alarm mounts over a looming, Thirties-style global financial crisis. A leaked email about the credit- worthiness of Commerzbank, Germany's third largest bank, yesterday increased fears of the international stock market malaise exploding into a fully-fledged banking crisis. [read more]

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A man for all markets
At 93, the scourge of contemporary economics, JK Galbraith, is on the attack. The author of The Great Crash tells William Keegan that President Bush's moves against recession are no use at all

Thoughts of Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments moved Galbraith to the ethics of the present. 'I have written a long essay, "The Economics of Innocent Fraud" about things that, for self-interest or convenience, we hail as the truth but have no particular relevance to reality.'

With an eye on the Bush administration Galbraith said one minor example of this was relevant now: 'You can't stimulate an economy by reducing taxes on the rich. That is popular for what it does for those who get the money, and not for what it does for the economy.' [read more]

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Public Says Bush Needs to Pay Heed to Weak Economy

A majority of Americans say that the nation's economy is in its worst shape in nearly a decade and that President Bush and Congressional leaders are spending too much time talking about Iraq while neglecting problems at home, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The poll found signs of economic distress that cut across party and geographic lines. Nearly half of all Americans are worried that they or someone in their household will be out of a job within a year. [read more]