Survivors in the post-crisis world by Sarah Gordon offers a quick overview of the main events in the financial world that took place during 2012. As the article was published in December, 2012, the author is able to look back at almost the entire year and to guide the readers through the main events that 2012 will be remembered for.
The purpose of the article is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to give an overview of the 2012 events that left a mark in the economic and political history. The second goal pursued by the author is to promote the journal The Financial Times and to illustrate the coverage that it offers to the readers both in terms of the scope and in relation to the importance of the topics addressed. Both of the goals are successfully achieved by Sarah Gordon due to the easy-to-read style and the vibrant flow of the article. In this way she wanted to give the readers the feeling of the dynamism of the financial world and the flavor of the coverage that Financial Times offers. Moreover, throughout the article the author subtly shows some of the topics discussed in the journal as well as suggests the specific sections, such as the series Capitalism in Crisis, where the readers may find the information that interests them most.
The variety of topics covered in Survivors in the post-crisis world makes it hard to pinpoint the most important issues discussed. Perhaps the variety of the themes in itself is the key takeaway for the readers. It is important to note that the article not merely represents a promotion of the journal, but also gives a learning opportunity for those, who would like to get a bigger picture of the global events without getting into too many details about any specific topic.
The wide focus of Survivors in the post-crisis world doesn’t mean, however, that the author does not set priorities in presenting information to the readers. The major part of the article is dedicated to the Euro-crisis that closely relates to the overall economic and political instability in Europe. Only 43% of the economists surveyed by the journal thought that Euro will remain the main currency of the European Union and will not majorly change its role in the near future. The rescue of Euro was an overarching topic of numerous political debates and required difficult compromises that countries had to make in order to find a common ground. The article shows that along with the commitment of EU countries to support the struggling union members, rescuing Euro also required the strong leadership of the European Central Bank and its president Mario Draghi, who brought some stability into the situation by pledging to save the common EU currency.
Beyond the political situation in Europe, Sarah Gordon touches upon the main events in the corporate world. Active government intervention into the major deals, such as the one between EADS and BAE Systems, seems to have a great effect on the way business world operated in 2012 and will continue to function in the future. Government presence was also felt in the frequent prosecutions of unlawful practices, such as insider trading and mis-selling of personal insurance. Although the article does not directly suggest the reasons for these changes, it is possible to deduce that governments decided to assume a more active role in shaping the global economy. This policy shift can be viewed as a consequence of the recent economic crisis that is believed to have been triggered by the insufficient control over the financial market in the past years. This fact led to a disillusionment about financial markets that was reflected not only in the behavior of the political and business world but also in the heated discussions in the media.
The article suggests Martin Wolf’s 7 ways to fix capitalism that followed the series on Capitalism in Crisis published in the Financial Times as the two publications that illustrate the general search for alternatives to the conventional laissez-faire attitude to capitalism.
Survivors in the post-crisis world is very interesting for a variety of reader groups. It can both sparkle interest in people, who currently do not read Financial Times, and give a short summary of the past events to the readers, who followed FT publications throughout the year. It gives the audience the “flavor” of 2012, highlights the main topics of the year and shows the general trends that seem to dominate the world today. Of course, it is not sufficient to read Survivors in the post-crisis world in order to genuinely understand the topics discussed, however, the article gives the readers a perfect opportunity to go over the past events, to reflect on some of the year results in retrospective and most importantly to understand the bigger picture that is formed when all pieces of the news are taken together.
