Pig-Headed Economic Policy May Still Lead to Disaster

SUMMER is at hand in the worldâ??s big financial centres, but the mood is hardly bright. Stock prices have been sliding for weeks in response to gloomy economic news. Factory output has slowed across the globe. Consumers have become more cautious. In America virtually every statistic, from house prices to job growth, has weakened. There was some respite earlier this week, but only because a few figuresâ??on American retail sales and Chinese factory productionâ??were not as dire as feared.