This looming global recession is being fed by several factors: the collapse of housing bubbles in the US, United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland and other euro-zone members; punctured credit bubbles where money and credit was too easy for too long; the severe credit and liquidity crunch following the US mortgage crisis; the negative wealth and investment effects of falling stock markets (already down by more than 20% globally); the global effects via trade links of the recession in the US (which still counts for about 30% of global GDP); the US dollar’s weakness, which reduces American trading partners’ competitiveness; and the stagflationary effects of high oil and commodity prices, which are forcing central banks to increase interest rates to fight inflation at a time when there are severe downside risks to growth and financial stability.