links for 2011-09-12

"The Speech" did what it was supposed to do – associate President Barack Obama with a bold programme for creating jobs, even though skeptics and critics alike thought it was more about keeping one job – his own.

"The Northwest Passage was, again, free of ice this summer and the polar region could be unfrozen in just 30 years"

"What Mr. Trichet and his colleagues should be doing right now is buying up Spanish and Italian debt — that is, doing what these countries would be doing for themselves if they still had their own currencies. In fact, the E.C.B. started doing just that a few weeks ago, and produced a temporary respite for those nations. But the E.C.B. immediately found itself under severe pressure from the moralizers, who hate the idea of letting countries off the hook for their alleged fiscal sins. And the perception that the moralizers will block any further rescue actions has set off a renewed market panic."

"The swift policy response to the recent financial crisis helped the world economy avoid a replay of the Great Depression of 1929-32. But can we avoid a replay of 1937-38? With the world economy weakening once again, this column addresses the question with a renewed urgency and comes up with an oft-overlooked explanation – the Treasury Department's decision to sterilise all gold inflows starting in December 1936"

"Senior politicians in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition have started talking openly about a Greek default, reflecting mounting concern in Europe's biggest economy about the debt crisis and pressuring Greece."