I. Are we headed for another crash?
The recent swings in world financial markets and the growing international effects of an economic slowdown in China have raised fears in the U.S. that the economic recovery could be on its last legs--even before working people felt like they had escaped the last crisis. And what will come next? In the first installment of a three-part series, Lee Sustar answers questions about the underlying causes of the instability in the markets--and explains how the troubles in the world economy today are tied the same problems that led to the Great Recession of 2007-09.
THE STOCK markets in China and much of the rest of the world seemed to calm down in September after the chaos of August. Does this mean the financial instability was a passing thing, and the prospects for the economy are looking up again?
NOT IF you go by the decision of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee to keep its basic interest rate at just 0.25 percent.
The Fed bowed to pressure from those who argued that a rate hike would further destabilize the world economy. According to the chief economist at the World Bank, a rise in U.S. interest rates would risk panic and turmoil."
Nevertheless, some members of the Federal Reserve Board's Open Market Committee argued for a rate increase, contending that the U.S. economic recovery is strong enough to trigger inflation--and that if the economy does go into slump, it will be impossible to stimulate growth without an interest rate cut.
Read more:
http://socialistworker.org/2015/09/28/are-we-headed-for-another-crash