The party’s over

From Alan Abelson’s weekly column in Barron’s

It increasingly looks “like the evermore freewheeling financial environment that we’ve taken for granted for the last 25 years is behind us.” Or, as the [Bank for International Settlements] declaims “has run its course.”

In sum, better buckle your seat belt; the ride ahead stacks up as pretty darn bumpy.

He sees a period of serious inflation followed by painful deflation, this being the hangover from years of a worldwide credit binge. It also probably spells the end of globalization as we know it, as it requires cheap, easily obtainable money to run on.