The glib phrase “chickens coming home to roost” is about to spread across our media like a contagious rash.

The words are used to convey very bad times indeed, and place the blame on those responsible for keeping the cocks and hens busy doing something else.

By October, probably even September, the West could be in meltdown, with stocks and credit sinking to record lows. During the summer, unemployment will start to rise inexorably as various “crunches” combine in the perfect storm long anticipated by some of us. The knock-on effects could be extensive for most people and some businesses.

Last week, Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King warned Parliament that no family in the land can avoid significant cuts in their standard of living. Take it on the chin and adapt, was the essence of his message. It was the kind of sentiment you would normally expect from a leader announcing the country was at war.

New figures also show that British personal debt now stands at 173pc of annual income — a number so scary that even allowing it in the same breath as rapidly falling house prices is enough to make stout hearts leap from skyscrapers.

Bob Janjuah, RBS’s credit strategist, warns, “A very nasty period is soon to be upon us — be prepared. … Cash is the key safe haven. This is about not losing your money, and not losing your job.

“Globalisation was always going to risk putting G7 bankers into a dangerous corner at some point. We have got to that point. … The Fed is in panic mode. The massive credibility chasms down which the Fed and maybe even the ECB [European Central Bank] will plummet when they fail to hike rates in the face of higher inflation will combine to give us a big sell-off in risky assets.”

Oil prices should start to fall back as output is increasingly depressed. Next year it won’t be inflation we will have to worry about, but debt deflation.

Over the next decade, small children may start asking their mothers, “What do chickens do when they’re not roosting?”