ABSTRACT
When asked whether the present economic crisis is already on the wane, experts are uncertain, even vague. Some believe that an extensive intervention launched by final borrowers (i.e. governments and central banks) has managed to control further escalation of loss of liquidity suffered by regular commercial and financial entities (commercial banks, investment funds, insurance funds, etc.) and that this brought more optimism into the real economy that should soon translate into more solid economic growth and a consistent, if slow-paced, process of recovery from the crisis. Others, instead, point out that, first, due to the volume and diversity of financial resources, including toxic assets that remain in circulation, the crisis has in fact only been slowed down a little and the worst is still to come. 1 Second, apart from the USA and some Asian countries, we still face the problem of deteriorating consumer confidence, declining trust in the future, contradictory strategies for development of the global economy as well as that of leading countries and economic/political groups, and, finally, the problem — still observable — of undermined moral principles and ethical codes in business. 2
