Thank goodness for that! The recession is finally over… Well, sort of. New figures published in August suggest Germany and France have turned the corner, economically speaking, while even the credit crunched man of Europe, the UK, showed signs of a return to fiscal health as the September edition of Eurofruit Magazine went to press. As leading economic theorists Slick Aguilar and Mickey Thomas once said, nothing’s gonna stop us now.
But wait, what’s that I hear you say? You don’t want the recession to end? Well, I’m sorry, but the time for those two-for-one deals at restaurants, free wi-fi connection in hotels and a whole raft of special offers down your local supermarket must cease forthwith now that we’re back on track. The light at the end of the tunnel is back on, and someone has to pay for the electricity.
Or do they? Some might argue that this recession has changed things forever, that it’s been a blessing in disguise. Of course, recessions are dreadful, particularly where jobs are lost, homes repossessed and businesses that took people years to grow suddenly fold overnight. But there are positives too, and emerging from an economic downturn depends partly on a willingness to believe once more in the potential for things to grow. My belief is that all recessions have a positive side and this one has been no different. The excesses of the housing boom have been curtailed, deceptive and downright immoral banking systems are coming under greater scrutiny, and short-term, short-sighted speculation has been exposed for the sham it is. Balanced budgeting is in, wild wagering is out. As Joseph Schumpeter suggested in his book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, recessions are indeed a necessary evil for capitalist societies, safety devices which can stop economies from over-reaching themselves and, at the same time, generate new potential in terms of investment opportunities.
When we do finally emerge from our economic funk, it will most likely be to a different kind of prosperity.
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