Economic recovery: Fact or mirage?
Global capitalism still wobbling seven years after recession began
by Kumar David-July 11, 2015, 7:14 pm
The IMF hedged its bets but concluded cautiously on an optimistic note in its 27 April World Economic Outlook document and press briefing. Jan Hatzius, Chief economist at Global Investment Research at Goldman Sachs, says "There is more light than shadow, but it’s a relatively finely balanced picture". The Economist in its June 13-19 issue on whether there is a US and global recovery comes down gingerly on the positive side. They highlight different spanners in the works; the IMF the hangover of debt ("legacy problems"), Hatzius that when the Fed raises interest rates, possibly in September, it will have disruptive global effects, and the Economist that central banks and policy makers have depleted their arsenal of recession fighting tools and will be empty handed if recession returns. I will summarise this variegated picture without reference to last weeks 61.3% vote in Greece against austerity and neoliberal economics, an expression of confidence in Tsipraz-Syriza and shockwaves for Euro, European finance capital and possible Grexit. These topics deserve full length treatment on their own.
