"It's sort of like a world on its own. There's no other sport where you're really going up and down.

VOA: special.2009.12.09

After it was floated eight years ago its profits kept going up and its shares multiplied in value.

ECONOMIST: Independent Insurance

And what are the odds of the market recouping its losses and actually going up during the next few years?

NPR: Listeners' Money Questions Answered

Its debt has jumped from 70% of GDP to 110% in just three years and its deficit is still going up.

BBC: Davos 2012: The unfinished and the unmentionable