A recession is coming: time to prepare whilst we can

Posted on

The FT has a number of headlines that suggest a new consensus in economic thinking is emerging. The first is this:

Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 07.03.54

The message from the IMF is that we should now expect economies to fail and be ready for the fact that this leaves major international banks seriously exposed to risk.

Martin Wolf is in downturn mood:

Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 07.06.52

In all but name he is calling for People's Quantitative Easing, and quite right to: it will be the only viable show in town.

And then there is Gillian Tett:

Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 07.10.09

I have commented on the same theme, of course, recently, but Gillian takes the argument further, noting that in addition to the obvious advantage that taking cash out of the economy has in restricting the opportunity for crime it also helps enforce the negative interest rates that are almost bound to be a feature of the worldwide economy in coming years. She has a point, although I can still see a role for small denomination cash.

The links are obvious and should be noted: this is the time to make preparation whilst we still can.

I hope the Bank of England is taking heed, although yesterday was not a confidence building performance from it.


Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:

You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.

And if you would like to support this blog you can, here: