Hedge fund guru Barton Biggs has turned bearish, saying he thinks the odds of a recession in the first half of 2012 have increased to about 60%-70%, and that the “current spurt in the U.S. economy … is going to fade as we get into next year.” Biggs tells Bloomberg that the apparent failure of the U.S. deficit-reduction supercommittee and the continuing trouble in Europe are behind his change in tune. He thinks we’ll see the stock market decline “at least back to the lows of last summer, and God forbid maybe even a testing of the lows of 2008-2009,” though he adds, “nothing is certain”. He says he won’t be net short in his portfolios, but will be “in a pretty neutral position”.