Who is going to pay? Most of the world's major economies are trying to spend their way out of the sudden collapse in financial activity using borrowed money. While contentious, there are ample defences for this policy.
But working out who pays is a harder question, which will be aired when the G20 heads of state meet in London next week. The air is thick with verbal barbs – from the Chinese central bank's interest in a new reserve currency, to the Czech prime minister's anger with the US deficit. Yesterday showed that the market is listening.
First, the auction of 40-year gilts in the UK saw the first “failure” since 2002. In other words, it was undersubscribed, with bids only for 93 per cent of the bonds on offer. The instant response was as though the UK could not fund its deficit, as the Bank of England warned this week.