So, the biggest risk to the world, despite its growing seriousness, is not the deflation of a bubble.
Among economists, the question is whether this slowdown is merely a short, sharp period of readjustment to a more sedate pace of growth and a less frothy stock market, or whether it is the first step in the long, painful deflation of a bubble economy.
For beyond all the scandals linked with the deflation of the bubble over the past two years lies a more fundamental point: that America's capital markets have done a pretty good job for the economy, and that the country's equity culture needs to be revived, not tossed out of the window.It is instructive to compare today's bleak mood among investors with that after 1929.
The deflation of that bubble has hurt.
We could be on the verge of a valuation correction or deflation of the bubble (if you think there is one).
The poll marked the beginning of the "deflation" of the Peña bubble, Mr López Obrador claimed on hearing the news.The handy poll of polls at ADN Politico provides some useful context: most other surveys suggest that the gap between the PRI and the PRD is still between 10 and 20 points.
But Cyprus is now also suffering from the deflation of a property bubble.
"Weaving a monetary policy path through the thickets of bubbles and deflations and their possible aftermath is not something with which modern central bankers have had much experience," he said.
The movement of smoke; the diffusion and flow of coloured water, mercury, oil, and so on; pneumatic inflation and deflation; and the movement of masses of bubbles have all served as media for kinetic sculpture.
Jim Grant, a shrewd independent economic analyst, and Barton Biggs, of Morgan Stanley, both reckon that the deflation of the Wall Street bubble has a long way to go yet.
