45% of world's wealth destroyed

World Bank says collapse has arrived

THE World Bank has broken a taboo, becoming the first official organisation to predict the global economy will shrink during 2009, to collapse for the first time in more than 60 years.
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The new World Bank assessment, prepared for next week's meeting of finance ministers and treasurers from the world's 20 largest economies, was not specific about the extent of the collapse other than to say that global economic activity would shrink "for the first time since World War II, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential".

Global industrial production would be down 15 per cent by the middle of this year, with world trade on track to record its largest decline in 80 years.

An astonishing 53% of Americans believe the US will enter a depression like the 1930s says new Rasmussen poll.

So it is all the more discouraging that the White House has yet to nominate anyone to fill the top positions at the Treasury Department aside from Secretary Tim Geitner. 

In an astonishing breach of diplomacy, the head of the civil service in the U.K, Sir Gus O'Donnell, complained that he can't get anybody on the phone at Treasury to talk about preparations for next month's G20 summit  to deal with the global economic crisis.  O'Donnell  said it was "unbelievably difficult" to hold discussions ahead of the meeting of world leaders in London.

The CEO of Blackstone private equity company says 45% of world's wealth destroyed.

As Tom Friedman says today

Friends, this is not a test. Economically, this is the big one. This is August 1914. This is the morning after Pearl Harbor. This is 9/12. Yet, in too many ways, we seem to be playing politics as usual.

Ed Morrissey details the 18 top positions unfilled and underscores the failure of the White House to nominate people to fill those jobs.

Why has Obama neglected Treasury?

The White House has responsibility for appointing these 18 positions.  Those appointments get handled by the Senate Finance Commitee, which after receiving the formal nominations, has to do background checks and other information gathering to prepare committee members for their hearings.  It takes some time to get a nomination from the White House to a confirmation vote, but the clock doesn’t start — it can’t start — until Obama makes each nomination.