jeudi 4 décembre 2008

Crisis back on form

The British media are fond of describing the ups and downs of the crisis in the past tense. The Guardian always couches its treatment of the latest near calamatous financial events with phrases that give the reader the strong impression that they've missed out on something. Last week the economic system nearly collapsed, last Friday the financial system came within a whisker of shutting down all together, last month the world economy was literally inches away from an enormous black hole's singularity that would have sucked us all into money oblivion etc. etc. So it is refreshing to read something in the present tense on Bloomberg of all places that "Chinese officials urged the U.S. to do everything possible to restore calm to financial markets and said they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” as the global crisis deepens."

It's that as the crisis deepens that lets slip, once again, the gravity of the crisis that some media nozzles prefer to try to defy. . .

And if you thought the Chinese were meant to be inscrutable, think again because this seems almost in your face "“We hope that the U.S. can take all necessary measures to stabilize its financial markets and economy as soon as possible and ensure the safety of China’s assets and investments in the U.S.,” Wang said. “To work together to tackle the financial crisis is the most pressing task that we are facing.”

Not so much a coded warning as a threat?