And when the American government realises that it will never be able to pay back its gigantic debts without massive tax increases and spending cuts, there is a real risk that it will start the printing press and inflate its way out. When that happens it will spell the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

We will survive economic stagnation and inflation as well, of course. After all, we survived the 1970s. But it would undermine America’s and Europe’s self-confidence, and our economic and political models would seem much less attractive to the rest of the world, at the same time as emerging economies are already growing much faster and are attempting to define their future role in the world.

The most important achievement of Thatcher and Reagan was not their foreign and defence policies, but their economic policies. They made their economies dynamic and made people believe in the future once again, so that they tempted the rest of the world. Something to aspire to and something to fight for. And Thatcher and Reagan don’t live here anymore.

Johan Norberg
Pro-globalist and author of several books, including the award-winning book “In defence of global capitalism” (Timbro 2001) and “A Perfect Storm” (Hydra 2009) that will be published in the US this summer. johannorberg.net