Saving the system

摘要

Confidence is everything in finance. Until this week the politicians trying to tackle the credit crunch had done little to restore this essential ingredient. In America Congress dithered over the Bush administration's $700 billion bail-out plan.rnIn Europe governments have casually played beggar-my-neighbour politics, with countries launching deposit-guarantee schemes that destabilise banks elsewhere. This week, however, saw the first glimmers of a comprehensive global answer to the confidence gap.