The "ism" enthusiasts are out in force again. These are the analysts and commentators who see everything in strictly ideological terms of socialism versus capitalism, more state control versus less state control. Just now they are all convinced that the pendulum is swinging toward state control, that free-market capitalism is discredited and that a new era of state socialistic dominance is being ushered in by the global financial breakdown.

For those who think this way it is proof enough that giant banks are being bailed out by governments round the world, that General Motors is nearly bankrupt, that Wall Street is in disarray, and industries are queuing up for state help and subsidies to see them through the credit starvation and the world recession.

The name of the great Cambridge economist John Maynard Keynes is much invoked in support of this theory, as being, so it is claimed, the chief advocate of more state spending to revive demand and counteract the collapse of private and individual consumption.