Radical thinking is needed if we want to avoid a Japanese-style slump

Things are looking grim and the financial tools used to drag us out of the last global recession are spent, leaving hyper-globalised economies such as ours dangerously exposed

Are you enjoying Red August? Since the beginning of this month, evidence that the global economy is in trouble has been ominously mounting. Warning lights are flashing in the US, China and Europe, with slowing industrial production, trade tensions and fading growth.

Stock markets are on a seesaw ride, and bond markets are having one of their periodic look-at-me moments. Since it is where the red ink is most visible, the performance of ...