A decade ago, economists sometimes like to say, the west was experiencing an era of “Great Moderation”; at least, in the sense that inflation was tame, central bankers looked wise and economic growth assured. Then, when the financial crisis erupted, moderation was replaced by an Age of Turbulence (to use the ironically apt title of Alan Greenspan’s memoir).
But now, a third phrase has taken hold: an era of political brinkmanship. In the aftermath of President Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday, there is intense speculation among investors about whether America will fall off a fiscal cliff at the end of the year, as it hits the trifecta of a debt ceiling, the expiry of Bush-era tax cuts and pre-planned spending cuts.
But what probably looms now is not a simple, binary “fall” – or a grandiose bargain to avert that blow – but a series of rolling showdowns. In the coming months, politicians may tiptoe to the brink of the cliff; they may even spark some mini-crises, by failing to cut a deal before, say, the debt ceiling expires, or tax rises loom. But I suspect they will then tiptoe back from disaster, with delaying mechanisms, before embarking on yet more brinkmanship. This game of cliff- dancing could last a long time.