When financial markets are crumbling and banks are crashing, the natural response of people in positions of authority is to talk rot.

Two weeks ago, Bear Stearns adamantly denied it faced a liquidity crisis. The next minute, it was being bailed out by JPMorgan. Meanwhile, politicians and central bankers were tying themselves in verbal knots trying to reassure: Hank Paulson heroically came up with a new noun – a downclimb – in order to avoid saying the word recession.