IT’S a funny old world. Have you ever woken up in a sweat, having dreamt that you are still at school or university doing exams? Horrible. Spare a thought then for present day students of economics. It goes something like this:
Question 1: You have 45 minutes:
• Banks have been lending money to people who cannot afford to repay them
• Banks are laying off thousands of staff but have just paid record bonuses which amount to roughly the same as the money they have lost
• We are all facing a tough year ahead
• The
• Oil is at a record high of $135 per barrel and may hit $200 this year
• The newbuilding orderbook is a record 61% of the world fleet and steel prices have doubled
• A capesize bulker was recently fixed at a rate of $303,000 per day to carry iron ore from
Discuss.
I think I’d run screaming from the room. And, indeed rather than even attempt to talk our way out of this economic asylum, we shall run away to
