World on the edge

摘要

America's Congress is not used to being second-guessed. But as lawmakers wrestled in the Capitol, world stockmarkets have been giving real-time odds on the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout becoming law. After thernplan's thrashing by the House of Representatives on September 29th, spurred on by voters' loathing of "casino capitalism", investors panicked. Yet as The Economist went to press, they were optimistic that, after winning the Senate's approval on October 1st, the plan would pass.rnEven if it does, that should not be a cause for optimism. Look beyond the stockmarkets, especially at the seized-up money markets, and there is little to see except bank failures, emergency rescues and high anxiety in the credit markets. These forces are drawing the financial system closer to disaster and the rich world to the edge of a nasty recession (see page 91). The bail-out package should mitigate the problems, but it will not avert them.