Dear Reader,This week could have marked a turning-point in the an ever-deepening global slump, as Barack Obama produced the two main parts of his rescue plan: a $789 billion stimulus plan and his outline for a (probably even more expensive) bank bail-out. This double offensive could have broken the spiral of uncertainty and gloom that is gripping investors, producers and consumers across the globe. Alas, that opportunity was squandered. Mr Obama ceded control of the stimulus to the fractious congressional Democrats, so the fiscal boost is less efficient than it should have been. The financial-rescue blueprint, touted as a bold departure from the incrementalism and uncertainty that had plagued the Bush administration's Wall Street fixes, is depressingly more of the same: timid, incomplete and short on detail. That is the judgment of our cover leader this week.
Here are some other pieces from this week's issue you might also be interested in. You can click straight through to each one and read it online at Economist.com using the links below.
John Micklethwait
Editor in Chief
The Economist
THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS:
How a model economy fell to earth
All the more reason for Obama to intervene in the Middle East
Why electronic books could save newspapers
A special report on the new middle classes in the emerging markets
The business behind the games
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