Book Review: When the Money Runs Out by

by Stephen D. King

Yale University Press

As shown by the likes of Greece and Spain, the West is now in deep trouble. For the past six decades, its citizens have lived like kings - a historical oddity, according to financier Stephen D. King. The West is apparently paying the price now and may never rebound, judging by precedent.

"We have arrogantly ignored the experiences of countries like Argentina and Japan, nations that have suffered from persistent economic stagnation, arguing that they are, somehow, special cases, the economic equivalent of genetic mutations that have no relevance for ourselves," writes King, the chief economist for HSBC. "Yet the gathering evidence suggests that, like those two once-successful economic powerhouses, the West has lost the ability to grow."

As Western debtors and creditors quarrel over who foots the bill for the financial crisis, the world economy's centre of gravity will shift east and south, marking the end of Western dominance, he says. For someone in such an establishment job, King is surprisingly radical.

"Guillotines may be long gone but echoes of pre-revolutionary France can still be heard today," he says in a nod to growing anger at recession across Europe and the US. Trust in government has plunged, and little agreement exists about what to do: neither austerity, nor its reverse, quantitative easing (printing money) works, says King, a member of the British government's Asia Task Force.