
An L-shaped downturn?
Much of the talk about bank bailouts blithely presupposes there will be good times just around the corner – and the state will sell the dodgy assets at a profit to the taxpayer as happened in New Zealand, Hong Kong etc. It’s the “buy on the dips” mentality – the idea that what goes down must go up and the only question is whether we’re in a U-shaped downturn or a V-shaped downturn. Yet there is a third, horrible possibility: an L-shaped downturn. This prospect should be taken seriously, and here’s why. Despite all the media references to Britain being “on the brink” of recession, we probably entered one in
