some fast facts

[Andrew Hagen]

-In the last year, world stock markets have lost US$10 trillion in
value

-If both the US and Japanese economies enter recession, it will be the
first time since 1974 that both of the world's two biggest economies
have been in recession

- The net worth of American households shrunk in 2000, for the first
time since records began to be kept in 1945

- World GDP has not shrunk since the 1930s, but might shrink in 2001

From
<http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=541647>.