Majestic Research

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal - Overheard

Published: June 07, 2010

Overheard

Is the global economy built on sand? Or even of sand? G-20 finance officials, gathered in the South Korean city of Busan to ponder financial regulation and global imbalances, can stroll along the beach to a sand-castle competition. The landmarks on view range from Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue to the Statue of Liberty. It’s a handy reminder of the ephemeral nature of all human endeavor, mused Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali : “Any country’s economic policy is a sand castle for a big enough wave.”
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Is it time to stop searching for the right letter to describe the recovery after Friday’s poor jobs report? Majestic Research’s senior economist, Steve Blitz , says: “It isn’t a V and it won’t be a W, it is a hyphen"—flat growth at a low level as the economy works off its debt mountain.