~ ‘IWDDT-WMNHAEOM’ ~ “If We Don’t Do This – We May Not Have An Economy On Monday”

~ CSDFE-AIWC-AIWTD ~ Corporations Substituted Debt For Equity – As It Was Cheaper – And Interest Was Tax-Deductible

~ DNDEG-STWNHTPOAPOYWABOTAOD ~ Debt Now Drove Economic Growth – Spending That Would Normally Have Taken Place Over A Period Of Years Was Accelerated Because Of The Availability Of Debt

~ DCBB-WTEAGISTRTB-B-TBODSTL1980WE-BRC ~ Debt Can Be Beneficial – Where The Economic Activity Generated Is Sufficient To Repay The Borrowing – But – The Buildup Of Debt Since The Late 1980s Was Excessive – Beyond Repayment Capacity

~ ILEAAPUTTSORAHB ~ Increasing Life Expectancies And Aging Populations Ultimately Threaten The Sustainability Of Retirement And Healthcare Benefits

~ TBTFBHBL-NS-IIBSAC ~ Too-Big-To-Fail Banks Have Become Larger – Not Smaller – Increasing In Both Size And Concentration

~ IOFR-PI-L-C-L-A-TC-O-DE ~ Instead Of Fundamental Reform – Policymakers Introduced – Labyrinthine – Capital – Liquidity – And – Trading Controls – Of – Dubious Efficacy

~ GHCUL-SA-UCF-F-H-AC-A-RB ~ Governments Have Consistently Understated Liabilities – Such As – Unfinanced Commitments For – Future – Healthcare – Aged Care – And – Retirement Benefits

~ IWAFP ~ It Was All Financial Pettifoggery

~ TIOEPWDRTPP-WTCWTROTPS ~ The Influence Of Economic Policymakers Was Directly Related To Postwar Prosperity – Which They Claimed Was The Result Of Their Prudent Stewardship

~ TENUWRRITMAMPBA ~ Their Every Gnomic Utterance Was Reported Reverently In The Media And Meticulously Parsed By Analysts

~ IR-EIR-WDS-CERAOA-KAA-RMB-EM-SP-A-E-AU-MFAU ~ In Realty – Economics Is Religion – With Different Sects – Clannish Economists Rarely Agree On Anything – Key Assumptions About – Rational Maximization Behavior – Efficient Markets – Stable Preferences – And – Equilibriums – Are Unrealistic – Model Forecasts Are Unreliable

~ EACBWLEOBOMMMIEOC-CWWK-KWD-A-DWN ~ Economists And Central Bankers With Little Experience Of Business Or Markets Move Mainly In Each Other’s Company – Confusing Wisdom With Knowledge – Knowledge With Data – And – Data With Noise

~ U-CPSCETEM-WRFT-F-S-P-A-H-C ~ Unfortunately – Complex Phenomena Seldom Conform Exactly To Economic Models – When Removed From Their – Fuzzy – Sociological – Political – And – Historical – Contexts

~ PFGF-TLOLCO-AV-HCASARPA ~ Pressure For Grant Funding – The Lure Of Lucrative Commercial Opportunities – And Vanity – Have Corrupted Academic Standards And Reduced Professional Accountability

~ ESSANABDAG ~ Empirical Studies Show A Negative Association Between Debt And Growth

~ IR-GDREGR-IIAMOSTDAMIC-AMDTBR-TLOTSDDOAMOF ~ In Reality – Government Debt Rarely Ever Gets Repaid – It Is A Matter Of Servicing The Debt And Maintaining Investor Confidence – Allowing Maturing Debt To Be Refinanced

~ ZIRP ~ Zero Interest Rate Policy

~ CBCWTFP-DMDTATEOTP ~ Central Banks Continued With The Failed Policies – Decision-Makers Deluded Themselves About The Efficacy Of Their Policies

~ WGDATHLER-BEBLRWBRUAHR-TBFAL ~ With Global Debt At The Highest Levels Ever Recorded – Borrowing Encouraged By Low Rates Will Become Rapidly Unsustainable At Higher Rates – Triggering Business Failure And Losses

~ PAMIUATGA ~ Policymakers Are Making It Up As They Go Along

~ PIEAATS-ITATAD ~ Problems In Economics Are Always The Same – It’s The Answers That Are Different

~ ADDHEA ~ A Democracy Deficit Harms Economic Activity

~ IRAM-FI-TTW-ALL ~ Increasingly Reviled And Mistrusted – Financial Institutions – Throughout The World – Are Losing Legitimacy

~ TCOCBAETVPOVACM-BTAOCTU-INC ~ The Claim Of Central Bankers And Economists To Vast Powers On Vital And Complex Matters – Beyond The Ability Of Citizens To Understand – Is Now Challenged

~ TWGB-TVACOTP-ATPABC-TTTCTMS ~ The Widening Gap Between – The Views And Concerns Of The People – And The Political And Bureaucratic Classes – Threatens The Trust Central To Modern Societies

~ TMAPCWOSOAO-AAWORUPAIATCGAS-NFTOTOD ~ The Middle And Professional Classes Who Once Supported Outsourcing And Offshoring – As A Way Of Reducing Union Power And Increasing Access To Cheaper Goods And Services – Now Face Their Own Threat Of Displacement

~ TSE-IR-RODEBAMRC ~ The Sharing Economy – In Reality – Relies On Disintermediating Existing Businesses And Minimizing Regulatory Costs

~ MWHBRTTNP ~ Many Workers Have Been Reduced To The Nouveau Poor

~ T-OPE-AFTL ~ Today – Ordinary People Everywhere – Are Fakebooking Their Lives

~ PGAPIAI ~ Perpetual Growth And Progress Is An Illusion

~ SGMCFTRE ~ Sustainable Growth Must Come From The Real Economy

~ TWIRSAANMC ~ The World Is Remarkably Sanguine About A New Major Crisis

~ SOL-E-HTSDTABOC ~ Sooner Or Later – Everybody – Has To Sit Down To A Banquet Of Consequences