links for 2010-05-30
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PK: "[T]he O.E.C.D. is saying right now is that policy makers should stop promoting economic recovery... this recommendation... seems disconnected... from the organization’s own economic projections... he O.E.C.D. declares that interest rates in the United States and other nations should rise sharply... to head off inflation. Yet inflation is low and declining, and the O.E.C.D.’s own forecasts show no hint of an inflationary threat. So why raise rates? The answer... is... we must worry... markets might start expecting inflation, even though they shouldn’t and currently don’t.... A similar argument is used to justify fiscal austerity... the organization demands both that governments cancel any further plans for economic stimulus and that they begin “fiscal consolidation” next year."
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JB: "Record temperatures in northern India have claimed hundreds of lives in what is believed to be the hottest summer in the country since records began in the late 1800s. The death toll is expected to rise with experts forecasting temperatures approaching 50C (122F) in coming weeks. More than 100 people are reported to have died in the state of Gujarat where the mercury topped at 48.5C last week. At least 90 died in Maharashtra, 35 in Rajasthan and 34 in Bihar. Hospitals in Gujarat have been receiving around 300 people a day suffering from food poisoning and heat stroke, ministers said. Officials admit the figures are only a fraction of the total as most of the casualties are found in remote rural villages."
