CNNアンカー　リチャード・クエスト氏　限定コラム– category –

These days everyone it seems is getting prepared. President Obama is preparing a banking levy to repay the US taxpayer its bailout money. The big US banks are preparing to report their results for the final quarter of last year. And of course, bankers are preparing to receive their bonuses.

There is something extraordinary about flying from Asia to the U.S. and crossing the international dateline. I left Hong Kong on Saturday morning, flew for 18 hours and arrived on the same day not far off when I left. I was curious: had the same magic of economic recovery that I experienced in Hong Kong flown ahead and beaten me there? Or was it taking the Slow Boat from China -- and I would be arriving back in a grim, old world?

I am on the final leg of my NYLONKONG odyssey. Having been through Hong Kong and New York, I am back in London. Since London is home I need not look too far for the evidence of what is happening in the economy. But for this last NYLONKONG dispatch I can do better than just the British capital.

Should they have or shouldn’t they? What would have happened if they hadn’t? Did their actions make things worse? Or did they merely bring about events that would have inevitably occurred? I am referring to the failure by the U.S. authorities to save Lehman Brothers, one year ago this week. The decision not to rescue Lehman led to its bankruptcy and subsequent collapse.