A World of Trouble, the sequel
BOSTON — As the global economic meltdown deepened two months ago, we wondered how the crisis was playing out — on the ground and in real time — in all corners of the world.
So we set loose 20 correspondents in 20 countries — from high-fliers China and India, to economic powerhouses Japan and Brazil, to struggling economies across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. They came back with this depressing picture.
But much has happened since then: President Barack Obama signed into law a $787 billion stimulus and announced plans to fix the troubled U.S. financial system. Other governments threw additional money at the problem. Meanwhile, leaders at the G20 summit in London agreed to regulate the global economy more closely, and to give the International Monetary Fund $1 trillion to fight the crisis.
So have things changed? What’s the unemployment situation? Are the stimulus plans working? Has the U.S. economic model become the world’s villain? And, because we still have hope, are there any new rays of sunshine?
The latest results are in. And while some economies have stabilized a bit, it’s ugly out there. And yes, it’s still very much a World of Trouble. Here’s the nitty gritty:
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