Capitalism Crumbling? World Stock Market at Nearly 6 Year Low

An indexation of global stock markets shows that the value of companies around the world is at the lowest point since the early part of the decade.

Central banks around the world are expected to implement another wave of rate cuts, but the economic tools of manipulation are running thin and far as the world looks like it will slump into a deep recession if things stay the way they are.

Every industry from Asian high technology makers to banks are beginning to fell the pinch as shares continue to take a pounding across the globe.

More from Reuters:

Like dominoes, Asian markets fell a day after U.S. stocks hit their lowest in more than five years. The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 1.2 percent as of 0330 GMT (10:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday), having hit its lowest level since May 2003.
Japan's Nikkei average dropped 5 percent, below the key technical level of 8,000 points for the first time in three weeks.
South Korean and Hong Kong shares tumbled more than 5 percent, while markets in Sydney, Singapore and Taiwan fell more than 3 percent each.
More broadly, the Asia-Pacific ex-Japan MSCI index was down nearly 5 percent.
Expectations for a sharp slowdown sent oil prices down for a fifth consecutive session, and down 83 cents to $52.79.

The Big Three...Can Foreign Automakers Save US Economy, Jobs?

The Big Three....
Ford, GM and Chrysler.
Who's going to save them? And the US Economy?

Car makers from Europe and Asia may be the only hope America has of saving its' "Big-Three" auto companies from almost certain doom in the face of the Global Financial economic meltdown.
An article in the New York Times suggests that if one of General Motors, Ford or Chrysler were to go down there would be a huge "dent" put in the side of the US manufacturing industy, but in the long term foreign based firms like Toyota could save the day.

Gradually, the auto industry has already become less American. The smallest of the Big Three, Chrysler, was owned for a while by the German company, Daimler, before it was returned to American ownership in the form of a privately held company in a much slimmer state than its once starring role in Detroit.

Read more from the New York Times.

Japan In Recession

Following on from offical reports from the European Union and Hong Kong, Japanese authities and analysts say that Japan's economy has entred a recession after a period of low growth.

Government officials announced Monday that the Worlds second largest economy was indeed in recession, following the rest of the world into slowdown in the aftermath of the Global Financial and Credit Crisis.

Japan's Cabinet Office confirmed that its economy shrank another 0.1 percent in the third quarter, following a 0.9 percent drop in the second quarter. The country's gross domestic product -- second to the United States -- has fallen by 0.4 percent this year, pushing Japan into its first recession since 2001.

Via: Washington Post