It's starting to look like the Summer of Love. Two reasons: The recovery is taking on a L-U-V shape globally, and it's going to require huge amounts of love and nurturing to keep growth alive.

• L stands for Europe, where slowness to confront deep damage and write down the remaining $500 billion odd in bad bank debt, mean rebuilding will be protracted and painful.
• The United States sports a U, bouncing along bottom right. But its financial giants swallowed harsh medicine early and the U.S. has the flexibility to stage an impressive rebound, if not undone by a fast-rising jobless rate at 9.5 percent and heavily indebted consumers.
• V stands for Asia (ex Japan), the surprise region showing resiliency, thanks to its rapid Q4/Q1 inventory workdown and huge infrastructure spend by China.

Like the Summer of Love 41 years ago, it is a drug-fueled affair. G20 governments are peddling $820 billion in stimulus this year, equivalent to 2 percent of GDP. Central bankers are spending even more. The Fed has doubled its balance sheet to $2.04 trillion the past 12 months.

These actions might have cushioned a severe cyclical downturn but the structural adjustment to a world of costlier credit is only just beginning.

Will politicians and central bankers have the wisdom or the stomach to keep the drug supply going long enough to prevent L-U-V from turning into an ugly W?

Government in the driver’s seat, putting the brakes on unbridled capitalism, might be the theme at Davos this year. But the New York Stock Exchange is undeterred. It will ring the opening bell of the storied stock exchange on Friday from this snowy mountaintop.

This will “emphasize the spirit of the gathering and highlight the global markets of NYSE Euronext” it said in a press release. If the NYSE truly wants this to reflect the business atmosphere here, then the bell will have to be rung very slowly and in somber tones.

For full coverage of Davos 2009, click here.

Macroscope is a new blog where Reuters journalists from
around the world look behind the headlines, the speeches and the
economic reports to bring you a fresh look at the factors
driving the world economy, and the people making the decisions that affect
your household budget.

It will look at the policymakers who are ripping up the rule books
in a desperate search for ways to get cash pumping through the seized-up money markets,
stabilise banks, revive stock markets and prevent the credit
crisis from turning an economic downturn in the United States
and Europe into a deeply damaging global recession.

This weekend, Reuters has 20 of its most experienced
economic journalists in Washington, reporting on efforts by the
world's richest nations to find solutions. Officials are holding
crisis sessions at the G7 and International Monetary Fund annual
meetings there. Macroscope gives an inside look at what's going on, and what it means.

Stella Dawson

Global Treasury Editor