great depression

America's mortgage crisis has spiralled into "the largest financial shock since the Great Depression" and there is now a one-in-four chance of a full-blown global recession over the next 12 months, the International Monetary Fund warned today.

There is a disconnect between the real and financial sectors in the American economy today. In the real economy, it was business as usual — almost, until recently. The fundamentals remain reasonably strong, with the subprime crisis yet to cast a shadow really and, to many people as of now, is but a speed bump.

Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the "Financial Times," discusses the origins of the current financial crisis and its potential implications for the United States and the world. In an interview with RFE/RL correspondent Jeremy Bransten, he outlines the different scenarios of how the crisis may play out -- from the most optimistic, to the most pessimistic.

Dysfunctional capital markets, frantic central banks, stressed-out consumers, fear and uncertainty -- all are alarming echoes of the global economic cataclysm of the 1930s. Which raises the inevitable question: Could another Great Depression be lurking over the horizon?