In an attempt to achieve economies of scale, the Chinese government has encouraged mergers amongst steelmakers. This is no doubt an attempt to gain greater control in the annual iron ore price negotiations and finally have the wood on the miners.

"BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China will encourage mergers in the iron and steel industry, said Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong here on Friday, as another move to offset the adverse impact of the global financial turmoil.

"Li also said that China should have a say in iron ore pricing, adding that Chinese steel makers should work together to avoid pushing up iron ore prices in international negotiations." - Source

In other news, there's an interesting article from Joseph Stiglitz floating around where he gives his say on the 'causes' (a.k.a the blame game) of the U.S. financial crisis. Click here to read it.