A global rescue for the US

The US is down but the world is not out. That’s what the leaked International Monetary Fund forecasts for 2008 suggest. The IMF is said to have chopped its forecast for US growth from 2.8% to just 1.9%. But the global growth forecast is merely trimmed, to 4.8% from 5.2%. The ability of the world to prosper while the US slows - what economists call decoupling - points to the US’s reduced role in the world economy. But there is another message. The US housing bubble has burst at a good time. In ...