Shock therapy was the term used to describe the drastic switch from a planned publicly owned economy in the Soviet Union in 1990 to a full-blown capitalist mode of production. It was a disaster for living standards for a decade. Shock doctrine was the term used by Naomi Klein to describe the destruction of public services and the welfare state by governments from the 1980s. Now the major central banks are applying their own ‘shock therapy’ to the world economy, intent on driving up interest rates in order to control inflation, despite the growing evidence that this will lead to a global recession next year.

That’s what they say.  The Federal Reserve board member Chris Waller makes it clear “I am not considering slowing or stopping rate increases due to financial stability concerns.” So even if rising interest rates begin to crack holes in financial institutions and their speculative assets…