But it looks like that’s what we’re going to get. It’s not me saying that. Right now, EVERYBODY is saying it. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has added his voice to the gloomy chorus, warning that the global financial system now risks a “disorderly adjustment”.
America’s top banker Jamie Dimon, chair of JP Morgan, has sounded the same alarm, warning of a stock market correction amid trade wars, runaway state spending and a possible US showdown with China over Taiwan.
Dimon told shareholders last week: “People talk about stockpiling things like crypto, I always say we should be stockpiling bullets, guns and bombs.”
He warned that in a shooting war in the South China Sea, the US would run out of missiles in just seven days, adding: “The world’s a much more dangerous place, and I’d rather have safety than not.”
Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, is also worried saying: “Buckle up: uncertainty is the new normal.”
These aren’t the usual doom mongers. They’re senior, serious people right at the top of tree. And they sound terrified.
Many financial experts fear that the lightning-fast development of artificial intelligence, or AI, is creating a massive stock market bubble.
So-called hyperscalers such as Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, are pouring more than $400billion (£296billion) a year into AI development.
Yet US consumers spend just $12billion on AI services. US tech giants may be throwing billions onto a bonfire.
Meanwhile, the US government is in partial shutdown, blocking key economic data. The Federal Reserve and Wall Street are flying blind.
One slip risks disaster. If markets crash, it won’t be the fault of Rachel Reeves, but the scale of the fallout will be. Britain will take a beating.
We’re in trouble enough as it is. Yesterday, we were hit by four brutal economic blows. All land squarely at Reeves’s door.
First, the IMF warned we face the slowest growth in living standards across the Western world next year.
Second: we also face the highest inflation rate.
Third: unemployment has shot up to a four-year high, with Reeves’s horror Budget destroying 297,000 jobs in the last 12 months. More will follow.
Four: Private sector wage growth has sharply slowed, making workers poorer.
Oh, and the Bank of England warns we’re marching into recession.
The economy has stalled while inflation, unemployment, public spending, taxation and the national debt and deficit rise at speed. These aren’t random misfortunes. They’re the direct consequences of Labour’s policy choices.
Now we face a potential financial crash too. A big one. With the worst Chancellor, at the worst possible time. Someone who’s done more the Italian economy than our own.
Even more worryingly, Reeves is in denial.
Today, she’ll claim that Labour is “delivering national renewal built on the rock of economic stability”.
But there is no renewal. There is no rock. There is no stability. Only decay, drift and turmoil. And she’s about to make things even worse.
Her Budget in November will hit us with even more taxes, which will kill yet more growth. The timing couldn’t be worse.
I’m always wary of doomsayers warning of a stock market crash. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Maybe it won’t happen. Maybe the US won’t need those bombs. But thanks to Rachel Reeves, we’re completely unprepared if it does.
