Great article. This part was the nutshell:
They need to grow up and face the harsh reality:
Average household debt has reached 141% of disposable income in the United States and 177% in Britain. Worst of all are the banks. Some of the best-known names in American and European finance have liabilities 40, 60 or even 100 times the amount of their capital.
The delusion that a crisis of excess debt can be solved by creating more debt is at the heart of the Great Repression. Yet that is precisely what most governments propose to do.
“We all know how we got into this economic mess. We spent too much, borrowed with abandon, and acted like the bills would never come due. So what’s the prescription for getting out? Spending more, borrowing more, and acting like the bills will never come due.”
Steve Chapman (columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune) - January 22, 2009
http://www.reason.com/news/show/131190.html
( . . . to abandon restraint so that we can overcome the consequences of excess?)