They got away with it. The attempt by the world’s central banks and governments to “muddle through” the credit crisis has survived 2010 intact. A paralysing slump created by debt and deflation has been avoided, as has hyperinflation. Asset prices, whether bonds, equities, or commodities, are comfortably higher now than they were 12 months ago.

So the desperation tactic known as quantitative easing – buying bonds to push down their yields – has worked, and indeed driven world markets all year long. Stocks (and commodities) rose until May, then fell until late summer, and have rallied ever since. The spring swoon overlapped with concern, which showed up in tightening money markets, that the Federal Reserve would soon exit from easy monetary policies. The autumn recovery started when the Fed signalled that it would resort to a second round, the so-called “QE2”. Alternatively, employment and manufacturing data suggested robust growth until the spring, but then started to show a real risk of a double dip. In late summer, the economy picked up once more.

If QE was meant to spur employment, or breathe life into the US housing market, it has yet to work. But it has kept long-term bond yields lower than they were in January, despite a fresh lurch towards US deficit financing, while forcing up asset prices and pressing investors to take on more risk.