With austerity being the political/media headline.of.the.moment
Morgan Stanley takes a dim view of global prospects
Policy-induced slowdown: The main reasons for our growth downgrade, apart from disappointing incoming data, are recent policy errors in the US and Europe plus the prospect of further fiscal tightening there in 2012. This is eroding business and consumer confidence and has weighed down on financial markets. A negative feedback loop between weak growth and soggy asset markets now appears to be in the making.
Maybe, but
data from China shows no let up in exports - somebody must be buying all those bibs and bobs?
