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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT

Coolest medical gadgets of 2010

MicroMagic's fast microbe tester

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MicroMagic's fast microbe tester
Outbreaks of E. coli in food production can be tamed with the MicroMagic, a device that lets food inspectors check for dangerous microbes on-site. Results are produced in 45 minutes to 10 hours, and plans are in the works for additional tests for listeria, salmonella, and other bacteria. Price: $4,000/tester, $25/test unit (€2,900/tester, €18/test unit).

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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT

Coolest medical gadgets of 2010

Alair's asthma therapy

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Relaxnews file photo

Alair's asthma therapy
The electrode catheter in this device, the Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System, zaps the smooth muscle that lines the lung's airways, offering permanent relief to asthmatics. Price: $30,000 (€22,000).

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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT

Coolest medical gadgets of 2010

No-sting contact lens solution

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No-sting contact lens solution
Bausch & Loom's sting-free Biotrue contact solution is the only one its kind that contains the natural eye lubricant hyaluronan. Since it matches a tear's pH, it doesn't sting. Price: $15 (€11) for two 10-ounce bottles.

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China extends reserve requirements for top banks

BEIJING

Three industry sources told

The required reserve ratio [CAR] for major banks will stand at a record high of 19 per cent and locks up about 180 billion yuan ($35.4 billion) in deposits that the banks would otherwise have had available to lend.

By locking up a chunk of cash, the moves help absorb some of the liquidity that drove inflation last month to a 28-month peak of 5.1 per cent. Inflation data on Saturday showed signs that price pressures are broadening beyond food, raising the prospect that the government will soon roll out more measures to temper the rising costs of living. These may include interest rate increases, currency appreciation and lending restrictions.

The extension of the reserve requirement increase, which was initially ordered in October, acts as a holding measure while Beijing weighs more aggressive policy options.

— China’s central bank has told six of the country’s biggest lenders that a special increase in required reserves will be extended, the latest step to try to quell inflation in a campaign that leaders this weekend suggested would be intensified.Reuters that the special increase in reserves that was due to expire this week will be extended for three months. That followed an official reserve requirement increase for all banks — the third in a month — that was announced on Friday.
REUTERS

pharoah88 ( Date: 14-Dec-2010 11:52) Posted:

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China extends reserve requirements for top banks

BEIJING

Three industry sources told

The required reserve ratio [CAR] for major banks will stand at a record high of 19 per cent and locks up about 180 billion yuan ($35.4 billion) in deposits that the banks would otherwise have had available to lend.

By locking up a chunk of cash, the moves help absorb some of the liquidity that drove inflation last month to a 28-month peak of 5.1 per cent. Inflation data on Saturday showed signs that price pressures are broadening beyond food, raising the prospect that the government will soon roll out more measures to temper the rising costs of living. These may include interest rate increases, currency appreciation and lending restrictions.

The extension of the reserve requirement increase, which was initially ordered in October, acts as a holding measure while Beijing weighs more aggressive policy options.— China’s central bank has told six of the country’s biggest lenders that a special increase in required reserves will be extended, the latest step to try to quell inflation in a campaign that leaders this weekend suggested would be intensified.Reuters that the special increase in reserves that was due to expire this week will be extended for three months. That followed an official reserve requirement increase for all banks — the third in a month — that was announced on Friday.

REUTERS

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Higher rates or stronger currencies?

Christopher Howells christopher@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE — Asian central banks will have to find the balance between raising interest rates and letting their currencies rise next year, analysts say, noting that

the former strategy could put domestic demand at risk

while the latter could crimp competitiveness of exports.

Doing nothing is not much of an option.

Mr David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Bank, says Asian central banks are behind the curve, with inflation in China running some three times higher than the average rate that has prevailed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

In India, the rate is averaging 2.5 times higher than in the same 13-year period.

“More rate hikes and/or currency appreciation is needed in all countries if growth and inflation are to be kept on a steady keel,” said Mr Carbon.

“We saw 21 hikes or currency moves in Asia this year; we expect another 24 in the first two quarters of next year.”

Although more rate increases are expected in Asia next year, currency appreciation may be a preferred strategy for policy makers, analysts say. With most countries in the region pursuing the strategy, there may not be much of an impact on export competitiveness.

[CURRENCY PRICE FIXING CARTEL ? ? ? ?]

The pace of appreciation, however, may be tightly controlled by monetary authorities. That is because while stronger currencies do help absorb capital inflows [QE2 & QE3 are WELCOME ?] , if they are allowed to rise too fast and too quickly, they may end up becoming a one-way bet for speculators, inviting even more speculative inflows.

“If you’re facing very large real flows, currency undervaluation and to some extent inflation risks on a headline basis, then allowing for gradual currency appreciation makes sense and I think that’s what will come through - gradual appreciation,” said Mr Craig Chan, executive director of foreign exchange research at Nomura. He added monetary authorities in the region might also resort to “administrative measures” to reduce currency volatility.

According to Nomura, foreign financial investors brought US$372 billion ($587 billion) into Asia in the year ended June 2010, compared with an outflow of US$136 billion in the previous year.

The Japanese brokerage says Asian currencies are as much as 10.7 per cent undervalued at current levels and may gain about 4.5 per cent next year, the same as this year.

pharoah88 ( Date: 14-Dec-2010 11:44) Posted:

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The Japanese brokerage says Asian currencies are as much as 10.7 per cent undervalued at current levels and may gain about 4.5 per cent next year, the same as this year.

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Higher rates or stronger currencies?

Christopher Howells christopher@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE — Asian central banks will have to find the balance between raising interest rates and letting their currencies rise next year, analysts say, noting that

the former strategy could put domestic demand at risk

while the latter could crimp competitiveness of exports.

Doing nothing is not much of an option.

Mr David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Bank, says Asian central banks are behind the curve, with inflation in China running some three times higher than the average rate that has prevailed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

In India, the rate is averaging 2.5 times higher than in the same 13-year period.

“More rate hikes and/or currency appreciation is needed in all countries if growth and inflation are to be kept on a steady keel,” said Mr Carbon.

“We saw 21 hikes or currency moves in Asia this year; we expect another 24 in the first two quarters of next year.”

Although more rate increases are expected in Asia next year, currency appreciation may be a preferred strategy for policy makers, analysts say. With most countries in the region pursuing the strategy, there may not be much of an impact on export competitiveness.

[CURRENCY PRICE FIXING CARTEL ? ? ? ?]

The pace of appreciation, however, may be tightly controlled by monetary authorities. That is because while stronger currencies do help absorb capital inflows [QE2 & QE3 are WELCOME ?] , if they are allowed to rise too fast and too quickly, they may end up becoming a one-way bet for speculators, inviting even more speculative inflows.

“If you’re facing very large real flows, currency undervaluation and to some extent inflation risks on a headline basis, then allowing for gradual currency appreciation makes sense and I think that’s what will come through - gradual appreciation,” said Mr Craig Chan, executive director of foreign exchange research at Nomura. He added monetary authorities in the region might also resort to “administrative measures” to reduce currency volatility.

According to Nomura, foreign financial investors brought US$372 billion ($587 billion) into Asia in the year ended June 2010, compared with an outflow of US$136 billion in the previous year.

The Japanese brokerage says Asian currencies are as much as 10.7 per cent undervalued at current levels and may gain about 4.5 per cent next year, the same as this year.

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“More rate hikes and/or currency appreciation is needed in all countries if growth and inflation are to be kept on a steady keel,” said Mr Carbon.

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Although more rate increases are expected in Asia next year, currency appreciation may be a preferred strategy for policy makers, analysts say. With most countries in the region pursuing the strategy, there may not be much of an impact on export competitiveness. [CURRENCY PRICE FIXING CARTEL ? ? ? ?] The pace of appreciation, however, may be tightly controlled by monetary authorities. That is because while stronger currencies do help absorb capital inflows [QE2 & QE3 are WELCOME ?] , if they are allowed to rise too fast and too quickly, they may end up becoming a one-way bet for speculators, inviting even more speculative inflows. “If you’re facing very large real flows, currency undervaluation and to some extent inflation risks on a headline basis, then allowing for gradual currency appreciation makes sense and I think that’s what will come through - gradual appreciation,” said Mr Craig Chan, executive director of foreign exchange research at Nomura. He added monetary authorities in the region might also resort to “administrative measures” to reduce currency volatility.

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Higher rates or stronger currencies? Christopher Howells christopher@mediacorp.com.sg SINGAPORE — Asian central banks will have to find the balance between raising interest rates and letting their currencies rise next year, analysts say, noting that the former strategy could put domestic demand at risk while the latter could crimp competitiveness of exports. Doing nothing is not much of an option. Mr David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Bank, says Asian central banks are behind the curve, with inflation in China running some three times higher than the average rate that has prevailed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. In India, the rate is averaging 2.5 times higher than in the same 13-year period. “More rate hikes and/or currency appreciation is needed in all countries if growth and inflation are to be kept on a steady keel,” said Mr Carbon. “We saw 21 hikes or currency moves in Asia this year; we expect another 24 in the first two quarters of next year.” Although more rate increases are expected in Asia next year, currency appreciation may be a preferred strategy for policy makers, analysts say. With most countries in the region pursuing the strategy, there may not be much of an impact on export competitiveness. [CURRENCY PRICE FIXING CARTEL ? ? ? ?] The pace of appreciation, however, may be tightly controlled by monetary authorities. That is because while stronger currencies do help absorb capital inflows [QE2 & QE3 are WELCOME ?] , if they are allowed to rise too fast and too quickly, they may end up becoming a one-way bet for speculators, inviting even more speculative inflows. “If you’re facing very large real flows, currency undervaluation and to some extent inflation risks on a headline basis, then allowing for gradual currency appreciation makes sense and I think that’s what will come through - gradual appreciation,” said Mr Craig Chan, executive director of foreign exchange research at Nomura. He added monetary authorities in the region might also resort to “administrative measures” to reduce currency volatility. According to Nomura, foreign financial investors brought US$372 billion ($587 billion) into Asia in the year ended June 2010, compared with an outflow of US$136 billion in the previous year. The Japanese brokerage says Asian currencies are as much as 10.7 per cent undervalued at current levels and may gain about 4.5 per cent next year, the same as this year.

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Higher rates or stronger currencies?

Christopher Howells christopher@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE — Asian central banks will have to find the balance between raising interest rates and letting their currencies rise next year, analysts say, noting that

the former strategy could put domestic demand at risk

while the latter could crimp competitiveness of exports.

Doing nothing is not much of an option.

Mr David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Bank, says Asian central banks are behind the curve, with inflation in China running some three times higher than the average rate that has prevailed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

In India, the rate is averaging 2.5 times higher than in the same 13-year period.

“More rate hikes and/or currency appreciation is needed in all countries if growth and inflation are to be kept on a steady keel,” said Mr Carbon.

“We saw 21 hikes or currency moves in Asia this year; we expect another 24 in the first two quarters of next year.”

Although more rate increases are expected in Asia next year, currency appreciation may be a preferred strategy for policy makers, analysts say. With most countries in the region pursuing the strategy, there may not be much of an impact on export competitiveness.

[CURRENCY PRICE FIXING CARTEL ? ? ? ?]

The pace of appreciation, however, may be tightly controlled by monetary authorities. That is because while stronger currencies do help absorb capital inflows [QE2 & QE3 are WELCOME ?] , if they are allowed to rise too fast and too quickly, they may end up becoming a one-way bet for speculators, inviting even more speculative inflows.

“If you’re facing very large real flows, currency undervaluation and to some extent inflation risks on a headline basis, then allowing for gradual currency appreciation makes sense and I think that’s what will come through - gradual appreciation,” said Mr Craig Chan, executive director of foreign exchange research at Nomura. He added monetary authorities in the region might also resort to “administrative measures” to reduce currency volatility.

According to Nomura, foreign financial investors brought US$372 billion ($587 billion) into Asia in the year ended June 2010, compared with an outflow of US$136 billion in the previous year.

The Japanese brokerage says Asian currencies are as much as 10.7 per cent undervalued at current levels and may gain about 4.5 per cent next year, the same as this year.

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Higher rates or stronger currencies? Christopher Howells christopher@mediacorp.com.sg SINGAPORE — Asian central banks will have to find the balance between raising interest rates and letting their currencies rise next year, analysts say, noting that the former strategy could put domestic demand at risk while the latter could crimp competitiveness of exports. Doing nothing is not much of an option. Mr David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Bank, says Asian central banks are behind the curve, with inflation in China running some three times higher than the average rate that has prevailed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

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Higher rates or stronger currencies? Christopher Howells christopher@mediacorp.com.sg SINGAPORE — Asian central banks will have to find the balance between raising interest rates and letting their currencies rise next year, analysts say, noting that the former strategy could put domestic demand at risk while the latter could crimp competitiveness of exports. Doing nothing is not much of an option. Mr David Carbon, head of economic and currency research at DBS Bank, says Asian central banks are behind the curve, with inflation in China running some three times higher than the average rate that has prevailed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. In India, the rate is averaging 2.5 times higher than in the same 13-year period. “More rate hikes and/or currency appreciation is needed in all countries if growth and inflation are to be kept on a steady keel,” said Mr Carbon. “We saw 21 hikes or currency moves in Asia this year; we expect another 24 in the first two quarters of next year.” Although more rate increases are expected in Asia next year, currency appreciation may be a preferred strategy for policy makers, analysts say. With most countries in the region pursuing the strategy, there may not be much of an impact on export competitiveness. The pace of appreciation, however, may be tightly controlled by monetary authorities. That is because while stronger currencies do help absorb capital inflows, if they are allowed to rise too fast and too quickly, they may end up becoming a one-way bet for speculators, inviting even more speculative inflows. “If you’re facing very large real flows, currency undervaluation and to some extent inflation risks on a headline basis, then allowing for gradual currency appreciation makes sense and I think that’s what will come through - gradual appreciation,” said Mr Craig Chan, executive director of foreign exchange research at Nomura. He added monetary authorities in the region might also resort to “administrative measures” to reduce currency volatility. According to Nomura, foreign financial investors brought US$372 billion ($587 billion) into Asia in the year ended June 2010, compared with an outflow of US$136 billion in the previous year. The Japanese brokerage says Asian currencies are as much as 10.7 per cent undervalued at current levels and may gain about 4.5 per cent next year, the same as this year.

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Ozawa urged to appear before ethics panel

TOKYO

“The issue is one of the reasons obstructing the operation of parliament and ... could affect elections,” Mr Okada said.

He added that he wanted to meet Mr Ozawa soon and resolve the issue quickly.

The DPJ swept to power last year, ending more than half a century of almost non-stop rule by its conservative rival. But the scandal dogging veteran party strategist Mr Ozawa has helped to slice voter support for Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s government to about 25 per cent.

A judicial panel has ruled that Mr Ozawa, 68, must be indicted on suspicion of falsifying reports by his political funding organisation, but he has denied any wrongdoing and could well refuse to appear before the panel.

Analyst Nicholas Smith, director of equity research at MF Global FXA Securities in Tokyo, said that party strife would affect a wide range of policies including a possible future rise in the 5 per cent sales tax to fix Japan’s debt-laden public finances. — The No 2 leader of Japan’s ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) yesterday urged powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa (picture) to appear before a parliamentary ethics panel over a funding scandal which has sparked internal bickering and could delay decisions on a draft of the next year’s budget. DPJ Secretary-general Katsuya Okada told a news conference that the party would have to decide on the matter if Mr Ozawa refused.Reuters

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ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

You might say, as presumably the WikiLeaks people would if they broke cover, that by giving people information about what their governments (or, more specifically, their governments’ diplomats) are saying in private, they are empowering the electorate.

[G20 Summit delegates and politicians and diplomats should be required to SWEAR BINDINGLY to TELL The TRUTH and nOthIng bUt The TRUTH befOre every sessIOn ? ? ? ?]

Knowing about what goes on behind the scenes can enable voters to make more knowledgeable choices.

In principle, this is obviously true:

It is what investigative journalism has always been about.

Which is why there is nothing new about the WikiLeaks phenomenon.

It was simply presented with a huge mass of undifferentiated material by a peculiarly irresponsible source and it chose to publish it in a technologically immediate form.

The fact that it consists virtually entirely of things that were said rather than things that were done has two kinds of significance. One is that private conversations, even when they are not at the level of the diplomatic communique, are generally considered to be no-go areas for journalists, because it is recognised that professional life of any kind would be virtually unsustainable without the possibility of confidential communication.

The other is that a very different degree of importance attaches to what is said than to what is done. An indiscreet remark or observation is in a different league from a dishonest or disreputable act.

What is it precisely that the ideologues of the great information revolution are arguing?

That no one has a right to confidentiality in any sphere of public life — apart from WikiLeaks’ staff, of course, and their Internet comrades in the Anonymous network who wreak vengeance on any website that threatens WikiLeaks’ power?

What about the lawyer-client relationship, which has privileged confidentiality in the eyes of the law?

It might be of considerable public interest to see the correspondence between defendants and their lawyers in terrorist trials, for example.

Would WikiLeaks publish such material if it got its hands on it?

For that matter, would it be willing, as a matter of public interest, to publish all the communications between Julian Assange and his lawyer?

Finally, is the power of the disseminated word so very novel?

The state has not been “in control” of information for hundreds of years, probably not since Gutenberg invented the printing press and produced his Bible, which helped make the Protestant Reformation possible. The 18th-century pamphleteers who inspired the French and American revolutions, the 19th-century manifestos that motivated the modern ideological movements, and the samizdat publications under the Soviet Union all managed to cry freedom in their own ways and to spread their messages to huge effect.

What is available now is the technology to make that dissemination instantaneous.

Perhaps that also helps to make it mindless. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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WikiLeaks, unapologetically anti-democratic

Website’s insistence that it is a voice of open ‘freedom of expression’ is just absurd

Janet Daley

We are entering an unprecedented age of free speech, right?

For the first time in human history, the state will no longer have control over information, right?

Democracy is about to come to its full fruition, with the triumph of bottom-up power over top-down domination, right?

Wrong.

The frenzied hyperbole generated by the latest WikiLeaks episode — an anarchic, but so far remarkably ineffectual, spasm of delinquency — seems peculiarly weak in its understanding of the basic concepts with which its rhetoric is larded. It is, in fact, the precise opposite of what its apologists claim it to be: With its unilateral programme of revealing confidential information, which it boasts is unstoppable and accountable to no one, it is profoundly anti-democratic.

In its self-contradictory maintenance of its own untraceable operations, it effectively declares itself to be the only agency in the world that is entitled to secrecy. Its insistence that it is somehow a voice of open and transparent “freedom of expression” is simply absurd: There is no issue here of any individual or group openly expressing an opinion that would otherwise have been suppressed.

All that WikiLeaks has done, as its name suggests, is to publish stolen documents that were purloined by a malcontent within the United States defence network.

As it happens, the leaked material has been almost entirely unsurprising, apart from one rather spectacular own goal in WikiLeaks terms: It turns out that a number of Gulf states have been urging the US to strike at Iran before it succeeds in producing nuclear weapons, and that the US has been resisting this pressure. This tends to undermine both the image of America as trigger-happy warmonger and the idea that the entire Muslim world is united in hatred and distrust of the Great Satan.

But there was one document that did include information of a sensational kind:

A list of soft targets (places that could be expected to be less well-protected) that the US considered vital to its national security.

Many of these were non‑military, including European centres for the manufacture of smallpox vaccine.

The blameless employees of these organisations, who had no say whatever in the publication of their firms’ identities and functions, and who now find themselves sitting ducks for amateur terrorists, may be doubtful about the new kind of [TRANSPARENT & TRUTHFUL ?] democracy that WikiLeaks proposes to spring on the world.

The claim by its spokesmen that this information was already “in the public domain” is neither here nor there. It has never been offered up in such a readily accessible form (for that is what the “information revolution” is all about, isn’t it?) and with such an extravagant flourish of publicity (because that is what WikiLeaks is all about).

So there is nothing democratic about this at all.

It is an arrogant, defiant provocation of international conventions by a tiny handful of unidentifiable people that involved no consultation or popular mandate.

Who are they?

Apart from their selfpublicising editor, Julian Assange, they are nameless and faceless. To whom could a society or an electorate — even if it was overwhelmingly opposed to such actions — protest or present its arguments?

If, as it claims, WikiLeaks has set in motion mechanisms for further disclosures that cannot be disabled, then the peoples and elected governments of all countries are powerless against it.

Where is the democracy in this?

Whose freedom has been enhanced?

Who elected WikiLeaks and to whom is it answerable?

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In an era where forecasts by permabears have gotten ample attention and vindication, few are as disturbing as this:

A world recession until 2018.Europe, where Ireland was the latest domino to fall.

1937 ALL OVER AGAIN?

Worse, in the US and other major economies, is the risk that it may be 1937 all over again. It was then that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt got stingy with stimulus, assuming that the Great Depression was over.

The next year saw the economy in full retreat.

If Mr Sakakibara is right, the global economy is in deep trouble.

He envisions a broad slowdown that might drag on for seven to eight years.

China can live a couple of years without US and European growth, but eight?

To head it off, governments need to up spending. And, for the most part, they aren’t. Yet the US can, and should, borrow more.

To do that, it just needs to become a bit more Japanese, says Mr Richard Duncan, author of the

There’s a single reason why Japan’s 10-year bond yields are below 1.3 per cent and Asia’s No 2 economy isn’t being downgraded. Since about 95 per cent of Japan’s debt is held domestically, there’s no risk of capital flight. Japan borrows from its companies and people, an arrangement that’s roughly the mirror image of the US.

That so many Treasuries are held in China and elsewhere makes the US highly vulnerable.

Mr Duncan, chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Management in Singapore, says the US needs another FDR-like New Deal to restore growth and competitiveness.

Funding one means greater borrowing and the way to do it is by tapping private sector cash, Japan-style.

Such suggestions are likely to fall with a mighty thud on Capitol Hill, which is moving in the opposite direction. Lawmakers calling for Mr Ben Bernanke’s head forget why the Fed chairman is taking US monetary policy into uncharted territory.

It’s because Congress failed to pump enough money into the economy in the first place.

Japan is a cautionary tale. On the surface, the 4.5-per-cent annualised increase in third-quarter gross domestic product looked promising. The detail, however, showed that deflation is worsening no matter how many yen the Bank of Japan churns into the economy.

This is anything but a typical recessionare too distracted to see it., and world leaders

In the US, the focus is on China’s currency. While a stronger yuan would be in the best interests of the global economy, it’s not the answer to all the US problems.

Japan [& Singapore ? ? ? ?] is even more obsessed with exchange rates.

And Europe is linearly focused on convincing investors that the euro zone won’t unravel.

In our time of currency fixation, perhaps a guy called Mr Yen is the ideal messenger.

Too bad his message is one of economic gloom as far as the eye can see. Perhaps even to 2018.The Corruption Of Capitalism. BLOOMBERG

The writer is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

It comes from Mr Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan’s former top currency official. He is known as “Mr Yen” for his ability to move markets.

Because Tokyo’s revolving-door politics often sends a new face to each Group of 20 meeting, he is one of the few Japanese constants in market circles. Traders may not know the latest finance minister’s name, but they know Mr Sakakibara.

Japan is the master of muddling along, decade after decade, with little growth to show for it.

And Mr Sakakibara was a key player when Japan faced everything from the Asian crisis to Russia’s default to the onset of deflation to a banking collapse that saw the demise of Yamaichi Securities.

So, when an economist with Mr Sakakibara’s background says “the world is set for a long-term structural slump reminiscent of the 1870s” when average global annual growth was about 1 per cent, I can’t help but listen. The reason for the slowdown? Governments are putting fiscal austerity ahead of restoring stable growth.

Yes, there’s an eye-rolling quality to a former Finance Ministry mandarin giving economic advice.

After all, officials there did Japan’s 126 million people a disservice by punting reform far down the road.

They just borrowed and borrowed, leaving Japan with the largest public debt among industrialised nations and no exit strategy in sight.

Yet recent data in the US and Japan and financial turbulence in Europe suggest a fresh global recession is a distinct possibility in 2011.

If that happens, what levers are realistically available to revive demand?

Interest rates are already at, or close to, zero.

That leaves increased government spending as the only real way to stabilise things.

The trouble is, there’s little support for opening the fiscal floodgates in a meaningful way.

One reason is that there’s already loads of public debt out there. As of June, Japan’s US$5-trillion ($6.5-trillion) economy had ¥904 trillion ($14.1 trillion) in debt outstanding.

Too much debt is wreaking havoc in

The US is starting to rattle bondholders with its borrowing binge. President Barack Obama’s stimulus isn’t working the magic economists hoped.

Neither is the Federal Reserve, as it goes the way of Japan with quantitative easing [QE].