Exchanges fall into the abyss

Evidence seems to be mounting that the dark forecasts of two years ago about a possible second global economic crisis are closer to being fulfilled than ever before The mood from the time of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in autumn 2008 has returned to the global financial markets. Reminding ourselves of 2009, when the governments of the western countries rescued their economies by pumping funds for all kinds of stimulus programmes into them, some forecasts were made that the crisis would have a second bottom, taking on a W-shape instead of the expected V-shape. After the crash on the financial markets and the severe downturn of the real economies of developed markets, the mounting debts of the countries were always likely to become an issue. The summer of 2011 showed how painfully true the forecasts turned out to be. The growing threat of contagion from the Greek public finance problem spreading across southern Europe has effectively put an end to any prospect of a prolonged upturn o