The Morning Briefing: Is the world 'drunk with cash'?

"The Morning Briefing" is SmartPlanet's daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we're reading about the economic state of the globe.

1.) World drunk with cash. Markets around the world overreact to The Fed stimulus plans ignoring slowing growth, high unemployment and the possible inflationary effects of a new round of free money.

2.) Poverty down! Inequality & hunger up... Huh? New, upbeat World Bank and UN reports celebrate a global success story: Between 1990 and 2008, the world cut by half the share of the world's really poor -- those living on less than $1.25 a day. And we achieved this goal five years ahead of the "Millennial Development Goal." Wow! But..

3.) The official poverty rate last year was 15 percent. Here’s what that misses. The Census Bureau released its income, poverty and health insurance numbers for 2011 on Wednesday and contrary to expectations, poverty was essentially unchanged, falling from 15.1 percent in 2010 to 15 percent in 2011. But more and more poverty experts are dismissing the official poverty figure. What gives?

4.) Proof that aid works? Child mortality plummets. Worldwide death rates cut by almost half in 12 years - but Africa still has challenges.

5.) Wider U.S. health coverage spurred by reform, income decline. Some 1.3 million more Americans had health insurance in 2011, as healthcare reform helped blunt a decade-long decline in private coverage and government safety nets expanded to cover growing numbers of the poor, elderly and disabled.

Image credit: Casey Serin

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com