Until last year, policymakers could always produce a new rabbit from their hat to reflate asset prices and trigger economic recovery. Fiscal stimulus, near-zero interest rates, two rounds of “quantitative easing,” ring-fencing of bad debt, and trillions of dollars in bailouts and liquidity provision for banks and financial institutions: officials tried them all.
直到去年，政策制定者还能从帽子里继续变出兔子，靠推高资产价格启动经济复苏。财政刺激、零利率、两轮“量化宽松”、给坏账“扎篱笆”（ring-fencing）、用数万亿美元给银行和金融机构赎身并提供周转资金：官员们使尽了浑身解数。如今，兔子用光了。