U.S. Protectionism With the country facing a growing banking crisis and weakening economy, President Obama indicated tackling the problem is the main priority. With millions of Americans losing their jobs, whilst U.S. unemployment rate standing at a sixteen-year high of 17.2 percent. Obama says he intends to preserve and create American jobs using some of the stimulus package he is putting forward. Does it mean that the United States government is becoming more protectionist? Garment Industry One export industry that is particularly hard-hit is the garment sector. As producer Alice Kan finds, people in the industry say business has not been this bad in decades. Asian Financial Forum The second Asian Financial Forum was held in Hong Kong last week, bringing together Asia’s leaders in business. Tesa Arcilla reports on some of the ideas that came out on how to tackle the financial crisis we are in. Rare Books Rare and expensive books were on offer at the second International Antiquarian Bookfair earlier this month, including a first edition worth almost 4 million Hong Kong dollars. And as producer Ting Ng finds, there is investment value in the rare books.