Pursuing the illusion of unending growth

Tokyo

HAVE we all become so addicted to the idea of continued high economic growth that the very suggestion of a new normal - or "new mediocre" as IMF managing director Christine Lagarde likes to call it - of slower growth leaves us feeling deeply disquieted and in search of a "fix" ?

Global recovery continues, she noted last week, but "in many parts of the world, people do not feel it is enough". She had previously warned of the risk of a "new mediocre" - or low growth for a long time. Now, she said, "we must prevent that new mediocre from becoming the new reality".