How to pull Britain back from the brink

The more closely you examine the gap between the Tories and Labour on the deficit, the smaller it seems to get. But the big message from today's Green Budget from the IFS is that the future performance of the economy is going to have a far greater impact on the public finances than the political affiliation of the party in power.

AFP - Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Sunday that Britain cannot and wi

As the pragmatic conservative economist Herbert Stein once said, “If something cannot go on forever, it won’t.” I’ve been thinking about that saying a lot in relation to today’s bull market and the complacency with which investors seem to view it. The VIX, or fear index—which measures investors’ expectations of volatility in the stock market—is at its lowest ebb since 2007, before the financial crisis. Prices for all sorts of assets, even things like junk bonds, are soaring in a way that would seem to indicate blue skies over the global economy.

As the pragmatic conservative economist Herbert Stein once said, “If something cannot go on forever, it won’t.” I’ve been thinking about that saying a lot in relation to today’s bull market and the complacency with which investors seem to view it. The VIX, or fear index—which measures investors’ expectations of volatility in the stock market—is at its lowest ebb since 2007, before the financial crisis. Prices for all sorts of assets, even things like junk bonds, are soaring in a way that would seem to indicate blue skies over the global economy.

Alistair Darling has agreed to consult directly with George Osborne and Vince Cable as European leaders looked poised to push through a new multi-billion pound bail-out fund part-financed by British taxpayers.

Where will Alistair Darling be in two months? Right now it looks highly unlikely that he will be inside the U.K. Treasury on Whitehall as chancellor of the Exchequer.