… is fear itself, as FDR famously said in his first inaugural address. One of the characters in Robert Harris’s new thriller, [amazon_link id=”0091936969″ target=”_blank” ]The Fear Index[/amazon_link], cites the quotation en passant. Although I’m only halfway through the book, I’ve got no hesitation in recommending it as a must-read. It’s both a page-turner and a terrific insight into modern financial markets (albeit slightly exaggerated for the purposes of creative tension). Buy it and read it now, or at least on your next plane/train journey!

[amazon_image id=”0091936969″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Fear Index[/amazon_image]

The book sent me back to FDR’s 1933 address, which makes fascinating reading in today’s context. One or two of his statements are very much of their time – for example, the intention to return people from the industrial centres to the land. But many elements could be lifted directly into any current commentary on the state of the economy. Try:

“Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men…..They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.”

Or:

“If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well.”

I commend the whole speech to anyone who, like me, hadn’t read it in full before.