Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Changing gears in Davos

The Annual meeting of World Economic Forum for 2008 is in session at Davos. A lot many distinguised people from finance world, politics, manufacturing, media etc are present there to discuss the issues facing the world right now. In normal circumstances, the meeting would have focused the collaboration that's needed for the peace in Middle East, making use of the latest technologies for fighting against social and environmental issues or to discuss the prospects of Pakistan and Afghanistan. But here comes the thunderball. A lot of energy would now be spent on the US recession and its impact on the economy across the globe.

Till now people have been optimist. Yes, there is a credit crunch due to reckless lending in the subprime mortgage category, and also in property and credit cards - but we will handle it. Another perscpective was that growth is very powerful in India, China and middle east - that will wither the American storm.

But "Decoupling" is not working. The fear has crept in big time. The insatiable desire for cunsumer stuff in US (much of it made in China) is now making the growth charts go southwards. Recession gurus are saying, "we are almost there"!

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