November 28, 2008

Read these articles in Russian here.

Featured topics in this issue: Thanksgiving and the Economic Outlook

The Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences
Interview with Anders Åslund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Åslund also served as an economic adviser to the governments of Russia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. “This is the largest financial crisis in history. We would be very lucky if our GDP growth only falls by 10%, during the Great Depression the GDP growth of the United States fell by 33%. Of course we are not going to repeat the same mistakes, but most likely we will make various new ones.”

Thanksgiving: In Search of Origin
A Gallup poll showed that 27% of Americans consider Thanksgiving their favorite holiday, 63% percent prefer Christmas and 9% New Year. A little known fact is that the origin of Thanksgiving goes back even prior to the infamous 1621 celebration in Plymouth.    

Turkey Day
According to the Thanksgiving legend, during the first Thanksgiving celebration the Pilgrims and the Native Americans consumed four Turkeys. A poll by The National Turkey Federation showed that 88% of Americans consume Turkey on Thanksgiving.

Why Turkey is called Turkey?
The history behind the word and the bird, research reveals the answer. 

Black Friday
The day after the Thanksgiving and the start of the shopping season is always a good indicator of the state of the U.S. economy as well as the mood of the American shoppers.