Foreseers

Will there be a worldwide financial crash? This question
was asked more than a year ago by Brian Easton in his
Listener Economy column. He spelt out the whole chain
reaction that in his view must inevitably occur sooner or
later in international financial markets—and indeed it
has happened just as he said it would. It was a very
prescient column. Easton also wrote: “As far as can be
judged, our financial system is sound, and can bear
significant pressure from the world economy.” If that’s
right, then in my view Finance Minister Michael Cullen
should get a big chunk of the credit for keeping New
Zealand relatively stable.

Also able to see what was coming, with an unswerving
eye, was Bryan Gould, whose 2006 book The Democracy
Sham laid out the whole grisly scenario. “We are,”he
wrote then, “a heartbeat away from a global crash.”

Should we pay more heed to voices like these? I think so.
They are still speaking—Easton in his Listener columns
and on his website, Gould in his new book Rescuing the
New Zealand Economy.