In the years leading up to 2007, as we all watched the major banks grow too big to fail, and enjoyed the economic growth and prosperity that their activities seemed to bring, we may have entertained the odd doubt that the apparent boom could last. But we probably comforted ourselves by thinking that in having these doubts we were applying old-fashioned and out-dated judgements to the brave new world of high finance. The idea that you could not borrow more than you could afford to repay was for sissies. The concept that there was such a thing as a bad debt that could not be turned into some sort of profit was defeatist nonsense.
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