I just saw the Australian Treasurer on the Bloomberg network talking about the world economic downturn. Australian growth declined to 0.3% in the second quarter (compared to 3.6% in The US). He said Australia is doing well compared to the rest of the world. Then the British finance minister was on. He said the economic situation in the UK was the worst it has been in 60 years. I don't see much in the MSM about how bad the economy is in the rest of world. I suppose the so-called journalists can't figure out to blame the world's economic downturn on President Bush. They instead talk up the idea that the situation in the US is the worst since 1932, despite the fairly good 3.6% growth rate in the last quarter. The MSM is more concerned with defeating Republicans in the upcoming election than accurate reporting.

A lot of the economic problems in the world are self-induced resulting from silly "green" energy policies. The UK is on track to shut down their nuclear electricity generation capability with a plan to replace that capacity with wind generators, which they are beginning to realize is neither technically nor economically feasible. Expect rapid economic decline in the UK. In Australia the carbon tax proposals are causing consternation as people begin to realize that much industry will be shuttered with massive layoffs. They still have time to avert catastrophe, but the liberal government may not do it. Russia, China, and India are growing quite well since they have not adopted the suicidal policies of much of the west. The United States is also doing relatively well because President Bush resisted the catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming prophets. But, the whole world would be better off if Democrats had allowed the US to develop a responsible energy program (which to me means more drilling in the near term and more nuclear power generation in the longer term.)