Debt-O, debt-uh-oh
Interest come and we need another loan
Debt-O, debt-uh-oh
Interest come and we need another loan
Work our lives just to lose our homes
Interest come and we need another loan
Stack default swaps till they come undone
Interest come and we need another loan
Come on Economists, tally us some BS
Interest come and we need another loan
Come on Economist, tally us some BS
Interest come and we need another loan
6%, 7% – it’s a credit crunch
Interest come and we need another loan
6%, 7% – it’s a credit crunch
Interest come and we need another loan
Debt-O, debt-uh-oh
Interest come and we need another loan
Debt-O, debt-uh-oh
When interest comes we’ll need another loan
It was the best of times (with the IMF predicting 3.9% Global growth) and the worst of times (with Roubini saying we’re all doomed) at Davos this week as the men who rule the world gathered to divide the spoils over card games while vying with each other for podium and TV time so they could talk their various books from the safety of the Swiss mountains. Davos, a tiny village perched on a mountain with just two main streets, lacks the protests of other Global gatherings. During the annual meeting, the town is taken hostage by thousands of police. “Anyone who looks like a protester can be thrown off the train,” says Marco Leutholz, head of the local Socialist party (and that train often ovelooks steep cliffs!). Sir Howard Davies (director of the LSE) writes:
The mood is certainly better than last year, when the world was ending, but it is worse than at the beginning of last week. Alessandro Profumo of Unicredit acutely observed that Davos is likely to accentuate whatever mood you arrived in, rather as alcohol does, I guess. So those who arrived nervous about the economic prospects are leaving even more jittery. If you arrived feeling pessimistic, you will leave somewhere between suicidal and homicidal.
The market background has not helped. Anxiety about Greece has grown over the past three days. In the circumstances, it was strange to see both the Greek prime minister and his finance minister here. Maybe the subtext was to show that there can be no crisis if they are munching muesli in the mountains, but though some may have been reassured, more people asked who was at home minding the taverna.
Hey I like that guy – let’s sign him up as a regular writer! Let’s NOT sign up Bill Gates, as Captain Obvious posted on his blog: “One of the big topics of conversation here in Davos is the economy.” They say retirement makes your…
