As I write, the price of gold has risen 17% to $1217. And in the light of Bearish sentiments in China, oil has resumed its fall – down 1.3% during this morning’s trading. The Euro too is down at 1.27 to the US dollar.

There is only one thing that can stop this getting worse, and deal with the now inevitable aftermath: austerity. Austerity on a level hitherto unexperienced by most people alive today. And despite its bigger long-term problem, at least the USA has the right attitude to how one stays within the means available. The EU does not – it never has, and I doubt very much if it could ever learn the need for that behaviour.

This is because the EU lacks anyone in a powerful position with the vision to see that deficit capitalism is doomed, and Asia is rapidly rebalancing the wealth available on the planet. This – and the deluded actions of bankers and leaders – is what has made austerity a certainty.

It was a possibility from 2004 onwards, when Greenspan chose to put off the pain of debt by printing more money via the American Treasury. It became a probability when – despite chucking our money at mad bankers – Western leaders did nothing to bring those madmen under control. And it became a certainty when Obama pushed through the US Health Bill, and Jean-Claude Trichet caved in to political demands for the Eurozone’s central bank to buy EU sovereign bonds when nobody else will.

It’s not just the austerity per se – it’s the unimagined depth of that austerity, and the utterly different expectations of EU citizens today compared to the Europe of the 1930s. The Jarrow marchers wanted shoes on their feet, not another pair of trainers. The German middle class wanted food on its plates, not to eat out every night.

Alongside that is the reality of socio-cultural self-discipline now compared to then. The sort of stoicism that existed among Britain’s poor eighty years ago is non-existent in 2010.

The econo-fiscal die is now cast. I’ve no idea what it will take to pierce the hermetically-sealed bubble wrapped around the political classes of the US, UK and EU. But finding such a method of getting their attention is absolutely crucial to getting through this long period of sackcloth to come without losing our voice and our liberties. As veteran readers know already, it remains my conviction that internet and civil disobedience represent the best route. Time is running out: we need to start forming honourable but determined democratic groups who will undertake this largely thankless task.