RON DERBY: We need the state to panic, but it won't
So here we go into the second half of the year, hoping to be steered out of this economic mess by autopilot
These are recessionary times; over the past week we have ticked the textbook definition of having two consecutive quarters of negative growth. While it was a surprise, leaving some forecasting models in the dustbin, I'd suggest that even a positive figure for the first three months of the year wouldn't have brought much cheer. A responsive government, led by an accountable president, would under such circumstances be expected to act in some sort of coordinated manner to deal with what is a crisis that threatens to morph into something so much larger in years to come. Policymakers should at the very least be seen to be panicking . However, the governing party's main focus is on a policy conference at the end of this month and an elective conference in December. Whatever policy decisions are made are of no consequence to our circumstances as it's only the party's newly elected president at the end of the year who will have to enact whatever emerges. One can't rely on opposition partie...
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