Beware the scariest sound in America: Jingle Mail

IMPORTANT though the UK Budget is, it is quite overshadowed by the deepening crisis in financial markets. It is now clear that the biggest credit bubble of all time has burst and without a return of trust in financial paper, neither action by the US Federal Reserve in pumping in liquidity, or fiscal stimulus by the government is going to prevent a nasty downturn. All this will inevitably have knock-on effects here.

This is no ordinary economic downswing. Such is the concern over a domino-style fire-sale of assets as banks tighten their lending requirements that there is now talk of another emergency interest rate cut by the Fed ahead of the meeting scheduled f...