On saturday I stood at Liverpool docks, looking at a gigantic Chineese ship waiting to be loaded from the half mile long,three story high pile of shredded scap metal.I don't need some financial pundit to inform me of what the outlook is for western economies-that tell's me all I need to know.
The high-tech economy that was intended to save us all is not meterialising,and selling cups of coffee to each other,using our homes as illusory ATM machines is not working either.
We were warned fifteen years ago about what would happen once China/india etc came to prominance-but nobody paid enough attention.
Britain in particular is about to be hammered as it has virtually nothing to fall back on..just watch all those little oufits go to the wall over the next two years.
I suggest you all read 'fantasy Island' there it is in black and white.

antony Graham, southport, England

Paul,

The "just desserts" will be served up to the US citizens when once again, our so-called government bails out the banks from a crisis that any mental midget could have forseen.

Our tax dollars are gonna be robbed from us to pay for this. The corporate media will spin it as a good thing, and the under-educated masses will attribute it all to the "ebb and flow" of the economic system- having no basic understanding that the economy is controlled by private interests who have complete control over the US economic system.

It's amazing that when I read Cicero I feel as though he's addressing our current Congress. More amazing is that the majority of US citizens continue to accept the hand that's being dealt to them, rather than getting off the couch and learning how the economy is controlled - and how they are woo'd into complacency by a controlled media.

The crime of the corporate controlled government won't kill us -citizen apathy will do most of the work.

Shorebreak, Indianapolis, USA

Eek, a grim article! But I've long suspected the party is over for us for the time being and we're in for a possibly deep recession. How wukk the world economy will be affected such an event? I would appreciate an article on this subject, if you can muster one.

Mark Mulligan, Shepherdstown, USA/West Virginia

Mr Grant, have you been to the States recently? The markets there have obviously been up and down after hitting a high in October, but media have predicted recession for months, yet the third quarter (after the subprime mess reared its head) is set to be adjusted up to show >4% growth. Most banks estimate 2.5% 2008 growth -- not bad by eurozone standards. While oil prices seem to be giving hybrid cars the boost that Yanks' environmental consciences weren't able to, the mood on the street isn't bleak: Holiday shopping numbers for the weekend were up almost 5% year-on-year.

I prefer UK papers to the US counterparts, but the borderline anti-US reports many UK papers, especially the FT, are offering seems off-the-mark. Rather than fit material to a predetermined story du jour, why not look farther afield on the economy? I've read scant little about Asian Development Bank reports that say China's economy is 40% smaller than thought. 40%. Isn't that newsworthy -- or at least absurd?

David, Shearer, Cambridge, England/Chicago, USA

This problem arose because interest rates were too low for too long, fuelling an inflationary asset bubble for far too long and making the exit from this disasterous strategy very painful.
It will be even more painful if the solution chosen is not some medicine to repair the damage but reduced interest rates which will only ultimately make the problem even worse.
I am afraid that the medicine will require higher interest rates.
The money market rates are already highlighting that the BOE interest rate is too low
Ask yourself the question if BOE interest rates were not set to control house price inflation on the way up, since the CPI does not include housing costs why should they be set to control house prices on the way down?

James, NI, UK

All these "recessions" are deliberately created by the Federal Reserve, which is a private bank, itself controlled from the center of the World Banking Cartel in Switzerland. They have been ordered by the Cartel to raise interest rates, make lending difficult again, and reduce the money supply, when nothing actually justifies such activities.
Close down the Federal Reserve Bank, and put the American government in charge of creating and distributing currency and setting interest rates. Once the notorious interest rates charged by the World Banking System are deleted from the equation, and the government can create the exact amount of currency needed, not too much and not too little, things calm down in the financial sector and a peaceful and prosperous tranquility reigns. The national debt disappears within 5 years. But the old European families who run the World Banking Cartel go from being "Trillionaires" to "mere" millionaires. http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=8702

victor compton, Cherbourg, France

Realistic and penetrating. Gary Duncan has looked things over without trying for the rosy glow we expect of our American columnists and politicians. Bush's solution to our woes is called the military-industrial complex.

Ernest Werner, Trumansburg NY , USA

Somebody once told me that the current official definition - two quarters of negative growth - was cooked up so that in the approach to the 1968 election LBJ's administration could claim that the economy wasn't in recession. Not that it did them any good.

Maybe we'll be treated to another redefinition next year?

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

Well said John... I think we are looking at a 15 - 20 year hangover and part of me thinks this is 'just deserts'. Not for those who have been nudged and winked into taking ridiculous mortgage packages but for the bankers.

Paul Sullivan, Chester,

Recession, how about the "D" word, depression!!!

John P Carrigan, Essex Junction, US/VT