Capitalism

Business expectations in industry deteriorated last month, with the index compiled by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) for Hellenic Production - Council of Industries for Growth showing a significantly lower reading than in February.

Investment interest in the Greek stock market appears to be experiencing a revival after a long time, with the prestige of the local bourse having taken a hard knock from the 1999 bubble and the continuing financial crisis.

Fears about inflation and soaring bond yields have sent the Dow plunging 6.5% through the first four trading days of this week. That would be the steepest decline in any week since October 2008.

Turkish fast-food chain operator TFI Tab Food Investments postponed its planned $220 million initial public offering in New York on Feb. 6, as the recent stock market volatility makes such stock market flotations challenging.

Thirty years ago Wall Street slid into the abyss, suffering the biggest one-day market fall of over 22 percent. Since then the Dow Jones has risen from 1,738 points to an all-time high of over 23,000, raising fears another historic crash is on the cards.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said recently that Greece did not have a normal capitalist system before the crisis. He is absolutely right about that. There is a threat, however, that the greedy, parasitic version of capitalism that's harmed us will not only survive on his watch, but grow stronger, and that we will miss a big opportunity to regain our footing on firmer ground.

The tourism of younger people is a very promising market. According to the data available by the World Tourism Organization 370 million young people are expected to be traveling around the globe by 2020, while another estimation for tourists between the ages of 18 to 26 states that the value of this market will rise up to 320bn dollars.

Chinese President Xi Jinping presented himself as a champion of globalization on Jan. 17, lecturing the world elite in Davos on the dangers of protectionism and the futility of trade wars.

Rising income inequality is seen as the top risk for the global economy in 2017, with reforms to market capitalism increasingly viewed as necessary to ward off a populist backlash, the World Economic Forum said on Jan. 11.

President Barak Obama has said that part of the effect of globalization and improving innovation has been an increase in feelings of inequality.