Final demand is essential to fulfil the government's timetable for recovery

[CHIMO]

Mr Bean went on tour last week. That's Charlie Bean, of course, the deputy governor of the Bank of England sent out to the regions ostensibly to explain all about quantitative easing, but in reality to spread the news that recovery is just around the corner.

Cautious optimism is the mood of the moment. Even the bear's bear – Nouriel Roubini – was saying late last week that the worst was over, and he boosted stock markets in the process. Bean's message is that the Bank will eventually need to tighten policy – reversing quantitative easing and raising interest rates – but has no intention of doing so yet for fear of "nipping recovery in the bud".

There is patchy evidence to justify the optimism. Some countries, particularly in Asia, bounced back from precipitous falls in output in late 2008 and early 2009 to record positive growth in the second quarter. Singapore, a country badly affected by the collapse in world trade, recorded annualised growth in the three months to June.

Demand for semi-conductors – seen by analysts as a bellwether of future demand for manufacturing goods – rose steadily in the four months to May and is more than 20% above its trough. In the financial markets, the wide spreads between interest rates on government bonds and riskier assets has narrowed to the levels seen last summer before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The Office for National Statistics will publish on Friday its first estimate of UK growth in the second quarter and the view in the City is that the economy will have grown a bit, shrunk a bit or remained flat. In any event, the 2.4% contraction in the first quarter will not be repeated.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/20/quantative-easing-charlie-bean

[notesdev]

1. ill-informed nonsense

Apparently these reporters heard the CNBC report that said Roubini was saying things were looking up, but none of them bothered to listen when Roubini stood up that afternoon and very publicly put forth that he said no such thing.

There is no recovery in progress, and there will be no recovery until the process of diverting the wealth of the country into the pockets of Wall Street and D.C. oligarchs ends.

[CHIMO]

2. Larry Elliott Profile

Larry Elliott has been at the Guardian since 1988 and is the paper's economics editor.

He is the co-author of three books with Dan Atkinson - the Age of Insecurity in 1998; Fantasy Island, in 2007, which warned that Britain's growth under New Labour was a debt-driven illusion; and The Gods That Failed in 2008, an analysis of the events and forces that brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse.

His areas of speciality are the UK and global economy, trade and development. He was part of the group that put together the proposal for a Green New Deal, published by the New Economics Foundation in 2008.

Larry is a visiting fellow at Hertfordshire University, a council member of the Overseas Development Institute and an adviser to the Catalyst thinktank and Red Pepper magazine.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2007/jun/03/larryelliot

Guess the world is full of them.

[DJ13]

3. Even the bear's bear – Nouriel Roubini – was saying late last week

that the worst was over


Roubini said later that same day his comment was taken out of context, and that he still doesnt see any recovery through at least the end of this year.

Check on his website.

That a respected paper like the Guardian is still claiming otherwise should tell you the entire article is pro-corporate propaganda.

[CHIMO]

4. If The

Complete article is read then it will become apparent that it is not stating that the "green shoots" are taking over.
I don't know why the article has included the Robinia statement. I don't want to get into a "he said" "she said" type of discussion.
Just read the complete article.