US Recovery is Anybody's Guess

Most developing countries are rightly criticizing the US for triggering the global recession---or what some are calling the Great Depression Part Two. Regardless, emerging and least developed economies are depending on a rebound in the US economy to continue the pre-crisis flows of aid-assistance and US consumption driven growth they became accustomed to when times were good.

You can imagine, a progress report from the infamous Larry Summers, Director of the National Economic Council would probably gain the up most attention for anyone hoping for so called "green shoots" in the economy that could finally signal the bottom of the recession. The only problem is that many progressive economists aren't buying Summers' optimistic forecast about the future. Read this emotional post by Robert Kuttner in the Huffington Post that practical considers the Obama Administration's predictions semi-delusional.

Corporations are reaping enormous profits this quarter in the US and many consider it yet another sign that the recession is on its way out. But think again, the profit margins this quarter for a few corporations are matched with a trend toward a generally uneven scenario. The Federal Reserve has suggested that the the economic recovery could be coupled with increasingly high unemployment.

Asian countries may be showing signs that their level of dependency on a US recovery may be weakening. While the rest of the world watches for a speedy recovery in the US economy they will likely hedge against the dreaded "W" shaped recovery warned of by skeptical economists. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, has announced China's intentions to spend money from its foreign exchange reserves in order to purchase companies struggling during the economic crisis---not America's troubled financial assets.

What Is Sustainable Development?: Video

This 2006 discussion at the Aspen Institute on "What is Sustainable Development", hosts one of the liveliest, most insightful interactions on the subject of sustainable development and provides plenty of critical food for thought. The video recorded discussion includes an expertly well- articulated case from the current White House Chief of Economic Advisers, Larry Summers that policy-makers not sacrifice economic development and poverty reduction today for hypothetical "sustainable" successes tomorrow.

"The highest morality is in taking a rather hard-edged view in thinking about where the greatest return for dollar spent is on improving the lives of desperately poor people... and that discipline needs to inform the policy debate."

Sustainable development of course is one of the most prevalent catch phrases in the development community today. There is however, very little discussion about what the term actually means and how sustainability is shaped in the conceptualization of specific courses of action. The rigorous debate, presented to the internet viewing public by Fora TV, is a great starting point for raising deep questions about how development policies are organized. Other than Summers speakers included Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development, Harriet Babbitt, former Deputy Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, and Cameron Sinclair, the co-founder and executive director of Architecture for Humanity.