You toss that off as an aside? C'mon, Gianni. I don't think I've met you before this thread, but you come across as a nice person to debate with, reasonable, fair, level-headed. But that was nothing short of comical. I can imagine Michael Palin saying it out of the side of his mouth, trailing off, "Well, the central government was a little weakened at the time....A bit! A bit!"
Besides, they could have staved off the meltdown by printing bogus money and enforcing its worth at gunpoint, now couldn't they?