Quote, Unquote

Economist John Maynard Keynes once said of the business cycle that in the long run all would be well. He added waspishly, "but in the long run we are all dead."

Watching last week's unraveling of the financial system he might have a point ... but this time in the short run. $2.5 trillion has been wiped off global stock exchanges. It has been the worse week in the markets since 2008 and Lehman Brothers.

And the response from government? As another economist J K Galbraith put it, "In the US though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes." Barack Obama has been characterised as being well meaning but ineffectual. Things have hardly been any better in Europe.