# Which of the world’s largest economies are handling the financial crisis the best? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 9, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072 "2009-02-09T15:31:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/21 "2009-02-10T16:48:42Z")
> [@Kid\_A](#): > > Fareed Zakaria, in this week’s Newsweek, seems pretty gung-ho about Canada. > > [Link](http://www.newsweek.com/id/183670) From that article: > [@](#): > > Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. The Canadian government has bought about $75 billion worth of mortgages from Canadian banks. Edit: Which isn’t to say that Canada’s banking system isn’t sound, only that the article is overstating the point some. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/22 "2009-02-10T16:56:04Z")
**Rune** what started my posting was this assertion. > [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > So I’m going for the US being the best off in this worldwide crisis. In fact all predictions are just the opposite. Just saying “but you can’t believe anything you read” when it is convenient to you is not a valid response. To the best of our knowledge China is going to do much better than America. In fact, your own link says they may be under-reporting growth. China is going to grow more than Europe or America by a wide margin. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/23 "2009-02-10T17:27:04Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > The [IMF](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/imf-predicts-uk-will-be-hardest-hit-1518588.html) has already listed us as likely to be among the worst hit because of our economic dependence on finance rather than making stuff. Also our deregulated approach to the banking sector left it more exposed. I don’t disagree that we’re going to be very badly affected, but are we better able to handle and recover from it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/24 "2009-02-10T18:16:17Z")
The US will not experience hyperinflation over an extended period because there is already so much wealth out there that doubling dollars won’t have the same wheel barrow full of money effect as countries that make their money worthless, rather than halving value. It will still be bad. But keep in mind that we’ve put in 10 trillion, which is still less than the GDP of 14 trillion and less than the value of money that isn’t turning over in the economy. As for the UK being very hard hit, I saw an article yesterday, which I can’t find today, saying that it was the worst recession in 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/25 "2009-02-10T19:36:06Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > From that article: > > The Canadian government has bought about $75 billion worth of mortgages from Canadian banks. > Edit: Which isn’t to say that Canada’s banking system isn’t sound, only that the article is overstating the point some. Yes, but this does not mean that the Canadian economy was suffering - just that the Government was dealing with the worldwide liquidity crisis. The government has announced plans to buy federally insured **mortgage-backed securities** , which are pools of mortgages that are packed together and sold to investors. It’s important to note that these are good mortgages, not sub-prime crappy ones. It’s **not** a bailout of banks who made idiotic lending decisions. (Yes, I’m looking at you US banking system) This plan was hatched in order to inject money into the system, and was designed to deal with the liquidity problem that banks worldwide were facing. It does not imply that the banks were in trouble at all. The government of Canada will very likely end up making money off of this deal. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/26 "2009-02-11T14:28:17Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I don’t disagree that we’re going to be very badly affected, but are we better able to handle and recover from it? We’re starting in a bigger hole with the shovel in the same state-of-denial incompetents who dug it in the first place so my wild-assed guess is ‘no’. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072/27 "2009-02-11T14:30:51Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > As for the UK being very hard hit, I saw an article yesterday, which I can’t find today, saying that it was the worst recession in 100 years. No - this was a former Treasury minister (now minister for kiddies or some-such) saying this about the whole world situation. He’s probably right and things are going to get a helluva lot worse than some here realise and the consequences will be with us for decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-world-s-largest-economies-are-handling-the-financial-crisis-the-best/485072.md?page=1)