Because in the mid 1950s, when I was a tiny child, they had the audacity to launch a very primitive little satellite called Sputnik, which sent the Western world into a hysterical tailspin.

Three days later, the ruble was devalued, and Russian financial markets went into a tailspin. With capital pouring out of the country, the Russian government was forced to restructure its debt, and the economy entered a deep recession.

As a byproduct of globalization, crises that once burned locally and then quickly flamed out now risk sparking international conflagrations. A pandemic, flood, or cyber attack in the City of London or Wall Street could send the entire world into a financial tailspin.

Debtor countries pay substantial risk premiums to finance their debt, which is reflected in their high economy wide borrowing costs. This has pushed them into a deflationary tailspin and put them at a substantial and potentially permanent competitive disadvantage vis à vis creditor countries.

With the collapse in the price of oil since then, the economy has gone into a tailspin GDP is contracting at a record pace, inflation is in excess of 200 , the currency has plunged to less than 10 of its previous value, and massive shortages have emerged.

But politics, not economics, explains why the Fed chairman changed his tune about America s weak external position. Mr. Greenspan s statement in Frankfurt in November alarmed senior European Central Bank (ECB) officials, who considered it a provocation one that promptly sent the dollar into an unwanted tailspin.

At least two of the reasons for high and rising home prices in the United States are well understood. What remains highly uncertain, however, is whether an obviously overheating market can be cooled without sending America, and its main trading partners around the world, into an economic tailspin.

This brings us back to the interactions between economics, politics, and finance, which are now fueling a tailspin that is harming Egypt s citizens and threatening their children s future. Appropriate political reforms must come first when they do, Egypt s economic and financial revival will surprise many with its buoyancy and speed.

It is impossible to advance toward political union while seeming to abandon Europe s citizens along the way, which is the impression that unremitting austerity has created. Sacrifice, too many Europeans believe, is not laying the groundwork for a better, more prosperous Europe, but is dragging them into a fatal tailspin.

The fact that a quick political decision in either Washington or Beijing could create the conditions that start an economic tailspin in either country is actually a lot more dangerous than onlookers have acknowledged before, said Abigail Grace, a research associate who focuses on Asia at the Center for New American Security, a think tank.

If it loosens monetary policy further by, say, cutting banks reserve requirement ratio the momentum for restructuring could be lost and there is no guarantee that the additional liquidity would flow into the real sector. But if the PBOC refuses to budge, the combination of high interest rates and slow growth may send the economy into a tailspin.

In 2002, the director of the IMF s European Department described the fiscal rules that institutionalized the culture of persistent austerity as a sound framework. And, in May 2010, the IMF endorsed the European authorities decision not to impose losses on Greece s private creditors a move that was reversed only after unprecedented fiscal belt tightening sent the Greek economy into a tailspin.

Suharto came to power in 1966, establishing a quasi military dictatorship and encouraging Indonesians to enrich themselves. Despite the depredations of his family, enough Indonesians did so over the next 30 years to make his rule seem exceptionally stable until the East Asian financial crisis of 1997 1998 sent the Indonesian economy into a tailspin, triggering violent riots that forced Suharto out.

Neo conservatism has served as a badge of unity for those in the Bush administration advocating an aggressive foreign policy, massive military spending, disdain for international law and institutions, an assault on the welfare state, and a return to traditional values. So, with the Bush era winding down in a tailspin of plummeting popularity and high level resignations, has the neo conservative movement, too, run its course?

If the renminbi were to depreciate by, say, 2 every day, it would take very little time for the currency to lose 20 of its value enough to cause a panic and, regardless of the country s economic fundamentals, send the exchange rate into a tailspin. That is why the PBOC has retained the right to influence the reporting of offer prices by market makers and intervene directly in the market.