It's been more than a year since the U.S. housing market collapsed, triggering a banking and credit crisis that has since spread across the world. The authorities have taken unprecedented measures to try and cushion the blow - including $4.6 trillion in bank rescues and fiscal spending, and coordinated interest-rate cuts from the world's major central banks.

Asian markets are sharply lower in morning trading Monday. Key markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei are all down about 3.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei index has fallen to a four-year low.

Governors are becoming more active in American foreign policy activity because of the blurred lines of what is domestic and foreign policy and the global economy.

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting editorial yesterday. They explained how the falling dollar is causing worldwide inflation and they urged that the Federal Reserve borrow money in order to drive up the US interest rate in order to slow that worldwide inflation. Here is their description of the world-wide problem:

Singapore: SGS auction sends bond prices south (May 29, 2008, 4:30 PM)
10-year government bond yields surged from 2.42% on May 21 to 3.47% on May 29 on the back of a SGD 2.2bn bond auction. While bond prices have undershoot, in our view, we do not expect a sharp rally neither. Short term rates are likely to creep higher, in our view and inflation expectations increase.

In the global economy, corporate collaboration is becoming a necessity, making trust critical to the success of joint business ventures. A University of Missouri study examined the effects of trust at three distinct organizational levels and found that business executives should strive to build and maintain trust to improve performance.

Strong universities will be essential to Quebec’s success in a globalized economy, McGill University Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum told Montreal’s Council on Foreign Relations Monday.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says a successful completion of the Doha trade talks would help spark the global economy.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy plus the European Commission will meet in London on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to recent turmoil on global financial markets.

European stock markets appear to have rallied after the severe losses recorded when they opened this morning. Following news of continued falls on the Asian markets, Amsterdam's AEX lost five percent soon after opening.

A renewed focus on agricultural development is critical to successfully reducing global poverty and hunger, according to a new World Bank report co-authored by economists at the University of California, Berkeley.

The global economy is set to expand in the second half of the year in all major regions, as expectations for the current quarter and the next six months are revised upwards, according to the latest ICC and Ifo World Economic Survey released today (August 21).