In recent years a dramatic counter-revolution has taken place in economic theory and policy - a rejection of Keynesian interventionism and the re-assertion of the old orthodoxy. As in the 1930s, wage cuts and balanced budgets are seen as the way to improve competitiveness and solve unemployment. It appears we have learnt nothing from earlier experience. Arguing that economic policies have exacerbated the impact of world recession from which Britain should have been relatively immune, the author contends that the underlying issues are quality of output and consumption, the nature of work and a more equal sharing of the freedom and power that income and wealth confer.