Extreme solutions work... if you have an exit plan

Emergency stimulus measures are fine so long as it is a means to an end. But the problem for America is that there's no end in sight. That could prove disastrous.

William Gibbs McAdoo. My guess is that it isn't a name you know that well. Perhaps you should. According to a book out in 2007 When Washington Shut Down Wall Street by William Silber he was a "financial superhero" who "saved the American economy" back in the early days of WWI.

According to Daniel Gross (who reviewed Silber's book on Slate.com), it was his actions in the chaotic autumn of 1914 that"enabled the US to seize the mantle of economic leadership from London".

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.