Heading For Disaster?

Available for over a year

Is the consensus of economists wrong: is the world heading for a new financial disaster? Many finance ministers and bank economists believe recovery is taking hold, and slowly but surely the world is getting back on its feet. But there are those outside this magic circle, who argue the recovery is built on sand, and based on flawed statistics. In their terms, the damage done by the financial crisis has merely been painted over, and the cracks are bound to re-appear. One of the most notable of these pessimists is Dr Marc Faber, who tells Lesley Curwen that governments simply cannot afford their liabilities. So how do his views compare with those at the top of the banking industry? We hear from the BBC's economics correspondent, Andrew Walker, who's been reporting on a meeting of world bankers in Vienna. He describes the guarded optimism of many bankers, and the pessimism of a smaller number. Plus Lucy Kellaway wonders why older people can't get to grips with social networking.