Econ Da Evidence

Birmingham Post, America ‘on brink’ of recession, NEWS; Pg.1, March 14, 2008 Gold soared while the FTSE and the dollar slipped yesterday as fears of a recession in the US continued to mount. Prices for gold broke through the 1,000 US dollar mark for the first time as the cost of the precious metal was driven higher by a weakening US dollar. The search for cover from the plunging dollar in commodities such as gold and oil came as global stock markets faltered yesterday. And the US commerce department added to the gloom after revealing a worse than expected decline in retail sales during February, fuelling more fears that the world's largest economy is on the brink of recession.

Weisman, Jonathon, Washington Post Staff Writer, Economists Debate Link Between War, Credit Crisis, The Washington Post, A-SECTION; Pg. A03, April 15, 2008 But that is only one factor, by Stiglitz's accounting. The federal government has sunk deeply into debt, first with tax cuts, then with accelerating war expenditures that have easily topped half a trillion dollars. That limited the government's ability to keep the economy on track through tax cuts or domestic investments, so the Federal Reserve Board used low interest rates and the free flow of money to keep the economy growing. Cheap credit sparked rash loans, a housing bubble and the current crisis.

Takita, Yoichi, senior staff writer, Unstable Greenabck Causing Worldwide Inflation Stock Slump, Nikkei Weekly, July 7, 2008 Rising inflation and falling stock markets due in no small part to the beaten-down dollar are threatening the world economy. Paulson has also acknowledged the serious economic repercussions from the downturn of the U.S. housing market and referred to a framework that can prevent the entire financial system from being shaken by the collapse of any single financial institution. The American economy has shed jobs for six straight months, and the financial fundamentals of U.S. households are deteriorating rapidly. Inflation is now running at a double-digit rate in some 50 countries, according to Morgan Stanley. The ECB's rate hike could cause the dollar to slide further, accelerating the flow of money into oil and other commodity markets. Simple-minded solutions to the problems that do not address the structural flaws in the housing market and the financial system can only make things worse, throwing the world economy into a downward spiral due to a virulent combination of inflation and recession

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