Viewpoints

World Economic Downturn

Downtown Tokyo, Dec. 3, 2001 (Photo: AFP).

Singapore The Straits Times (independent), Nov. 2: The last great period of globalization a century ago was ended by the onset of world war and a century-long struggle between political ideologies. It was not inconceivable that the hijacking of four airliners could prove as consequential as the assassination of an Austrian archduke. And yet the encouraging news is that, so far at least, instead of retreating into a cocoon of economic nationalism, the world’s political leaders have emerged unbound from narrow national constraints in the seven weeks since Sept. 11. It has been a remarkably positive month for the cause of progressive economic internationalism, especially in the United States.

Manila Manila Times (independent), Nov. 2: If the world has banded together in an international coalition against terrorism, why not unite against an equally monstrous threat to mankind and nations? This threat is, of course, that of a universal economic collapse following a world recession, massive unemployment, and the demolition of the world’s financial and trading order. The world was already facing grave economic and financial difficulties even before the Bin Laden Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. Sept. 11 exacerbated these problems—not only in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, but also in countries that depend on them to buy their exports and to supply them with capital goods as well as grant loans from their banks and economic aid from their government.

Mexico City La Jornada (left-wing), Nov. 1: The point that is currently being raised is that if the globalization of the world economy has led to a world that is increasingly more concentrated and unfair, the recession in the globalized economy will intensify the differences between poor and rich, and between poor countries and rich countries. More economic liberalization and new reforms that privatize the electric industry and make the use of the labor force more flexible will increase the world’s problems.
—Orlando Delgado

Accra Ghanaian Chronicle (independent weekly), Nov. 8: The Al Qaeda network’s causing a new-age world war fought by economists, diplomats, spies, and occasionally the military is going to hurt the very...oppressed of the planet [whom] Bin Laden would say it is defending from the materialism and imperialism of the developed world. It will hurt them not just in Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank, but in the whole of Africa too.

Bratislava Pravda (left-wing), Nov. 8: The recent terror attacks—at best—will postpone the global economic revival. According to the negative alternative it will result in a recession due to reduced consumer spending. We could witness public panic, fear of flying, vacation insecurities, fear of spending on long-term investments such as cars, TVs, refrigerators, or washing machines. Such consumer limitations could trigger increased unemployment.
—Jan Salgovic

Christchurch The Press (conservative), Nov. 9: As the world appears to be heading toward a global recession (optimists think it will be shallow and mild and over by the middle of next year; pessimists believe it could be the worst since the 1930s), the need for open trade is as great as ever. To stop would be to forego huge benefits; to go backward toward greater protectionism, as some urge, would be to risk falling into the kind of trade wars that deepened the calamity of the Great Depression.

Oslo Aftenposten (conservative), Nov. 6: It is now more than obvious that the international economy is into a downturn, reinforced because it hits the United States, Japan, and the larger European Union countries simultaneously. Now the question is whether the shock-effects after the terror—and the images of death and collapse—will pull confidence for the economic future even further down. A war with indefinite progress and the fear of attack with biological methods is also contributory.