Uncomfortable echoes of the 1970s

We are going back to the 1970s — a relentlessly awful decade. This is becoming a consensus view in the investment community — and one that will only gain steam now there may be a crisis election à la 1974 — the one which gave us a hung parliament.

But look a little closer at the seventies and you will see nothing was relentless — or, for that matter, consistent. The US and UK economies were neither mired in recession nor caught…