Square-root reversal

America will recover, but too weakly for comfort

The American economy in 2010 will be torn between two opposing forces. The first is that deep recessions usually lead to strong recoveries. The other is that financial crises usually produce weak recoveries. The interplay of these two forces will produce a cycle that resembles not a V, U or W, but a reverse-square-root symbol: an expansion that begins surprisingly briskly, then gives way to a long period of weak growth.

Recessions interrupt the economy’s natural inclination to grow. They create pent-up demand for homes and other goods, and prompt businesses to slash production, payrolls and investment to levels well below what normal sales require. Ordinarily, the deeper the downturn, the more powerful the reversal of those effects. Based on experience, the American economy, which shrank by some 4% over the course of the 2007-09 recession, ought to grow by as much as 8% in its first year of recovery. The unemployment rate, around 10% in late 2009, should drop to about 8%.
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Woman maimed by suitor fears more reprisals

Zafarkey, Pakistan (CNN) — Fazeelat Bibi peels back the white bandage, exposing her mutilated face. In the place of her nose are two gaping dark holes surrounded by raw pink flesh in the final stages of healing.

“I cant sleep without fear,” she says, her hands twisting beneath her light colored chador. “Whenever I try to sleep, I see the whole brutal act in front of my eyes.”

The 22-year-old used to be the family jokester, the youngest girl out of her six siblings, and her mother’s favorite. But a chilling act of violence destroyed her life and killed her spirit.

These days she spends most of her time in silence, rarely venturing outside of the house. Her voice is strong, angry as she tells us she wants her story told.

It all happened in the small village of Zafarkey, outside of Lahore, surrounded by brick kilns and bright green fields.

Fazeelat’s cousin, Sher Mohammed wanted to marry her and came with family members to ask her parents for her hand. “My family refused,” Fazeelat told us.
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