Author: Stephen Grenville, Lowy Institute

This article is the second part of a digest of a public forum at the ANU.

Ross Garnaut’s book, ‘The Great Crash of 2008’, is an important contribution to the ongoing critical discussion of the global economic crisis.

However, it lacks in one respect: the book is written as if Australia went through basically the same experience as the US.

In the US it was an old fashioned financial crash, like 1907 when JP Morgan locked the bankers in his library and told them that he wouldn’t let them out until they had sorted out the mess. Read the rest of this entry »

This article is the first part of a digest of a public forum at the ANU.

There has been quite a bit written, including several books, on the Great Crash of 2008. Reading those all at once recalls the old Indian story of the blind men and the elephant: one blind man putting his arms around the legs described the elephant as a tree, another feeling the ear described it as a fan. One felt the trunk and described it as a snake, while a fourth felt the tail and disputed the serpentine explanation. The Great Crash of 2008 is the story of the whole elephant. It tries to show how all the parts fit together. Read the rest of this entry »