We live in an era where many of politicians have failed us...Perhaps their main weakness was to believe the good times had to last forever and they could not see that debt would lead us into these problems.
Some people did forsee it.
Telegraph Columnist, Ambrose Evans Pritchard did warn of the dangers.
A piece he wrote earlier this week highlighted where we are going.
"Whether it is the Indian rupee, the Shanghai bourse, or Kremlin debt, the stars of the credit boom have fallen to earth. Investors are retreating into 3-month US Treasury bills – the ultimate safe-haven. The yield has fallen to 0.02pc, less than zero after costs. You pay Washington to guard your money.
The working assumption of the "Great Boom" is – or was – that we live in a benign era where most societies are converging towards some form of market liberalism; where trade and capital flows are unrestricted; where governments have enough legitimacy to keep order by light touch; where a major war is unthinkable.
This illusion is now being tested. "
The implication is that we are moving from the sphere of the economic to the political and the possibility of rapid conflict.
Will our politicians be able to grapple with this new world?
As lawyers we need to use skills which are not only cost conscious but are fit for the tools which our clients need. This involves negotiation, flare and optimism and the ragged determination that we can come through.
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