A contagion of bad ideas - the North Atlantic Recession. The Great Recession of 2008 has morphed into the North Atlantic Recession: it is mainly Europe and the United States, not the major emerging markets, that have become mired in slow growth and high unemployment.
And it is Europe and the US that are marching, alone and together, to the denouement of a grand debacle. A busted bubble led to a massive Keynesian stimulus that averted a much deeper recession, but that also fueled substantial budget deficits. The response - massive spending cuts - ensures that unacceptably high levels of unemployment (a vast waste of resources and an oversupply of suffering) will continue, possibly for years. The European Union has finally committed itself to helping its financially distressed members.
It had no choice: with financial turmoil threatening to spread from small countries like Greece and Ireland to large ones like Italy and Spain, the euro's very survival was in growing jeopardy. And matters are little better on the other side of the Atlantic. Austria witnesses new gold rush. There's a new gold rush.
The financial crisis is prompting people to look for safer forms of investment than stocks and shares. The interest in gold coins is so great that many of the world's major mints are struggling to keep up with demand, including the Austrian Mint, which produces the Vienna Philharmonic - one of the best-selling bullion coins worldwide. Sales of Vienna Philharmonic gold coins have gone up by more than 230% since last year. Kerry Tattersall, the director of marketing at the mint, says production has gone into overdrive.
"We are running at present something like three shifts on all of the machines, on the presses, producing both gold and the silver bullion coins. How gold coins are made "We've actually got delays in delivering orders in silver. In September alone, the mint sold 100,000 ounces in gold coins - in normal times it would take three to four months to sell that much. Mr Tattersall says people are looking for security. King's ransom Life savings. US banks make shock status switch. The last two major investment banks in the US have changed their status to become bank holding companies, allowing them to take deposits from investors.
The changes should enable Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to raise more funds by opening commercial banks. The move - part of a huge restructuring effort on Wall Street - will also give them access to Federal Reserve support. The US government has announced a $700bn (£382bn) package to tackle the worst financial crisis for decades. Congress is considering the plan, drawn up by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, which would set up a fund to buy up much of the bad debt held by financial institutions, which had triggered the credit crisis. The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said transforming these investment giants into licensed, deposit-taking banks marked the end of an era for Wall Street. 'Greater safety' They speak about 'economic forces' as if they are natural disasters - they are man made James, Southend.
Global recession timeline - 2007 - 2010. 8 February 2007: HSBC WARNS OF SUBPRIME LOSSES HSBC reveals huge losses at its US mortgage arm Household Finance due to subprime losses, in one of the first signs that the US housing market is turning sour, and that it could have a knock-on effect on the global financial sector.
Full story 2 April 2007: NEW CENTURY GOES BUST New Century Financial, a leading subprime lender, files for bankruptcy. It is the first signal that something is seriously amiss at US mortgage lenders. 9 August 2007: CREDIT MARKETS FREEZE Credit markets go into freefall after Paribas announces that two of its hedge funds are frozen due to "complete evaporation of liquidity" in asset backed security market. 14 September 2007: RUN ON THE ROCK Savers in beleaguered UK former building society Northern Rock begin withdrawing their savings after the BBC reveals the bank has received emergency financial support from the Bank of England. 17 March 2008: BEAR STEARNS RESCUE 7 September 2008: FANNIE MAE RESCUE.