The other reply from jswinghammer is spot-on about central policy. $1 of marginal new borrowing is creating less than $1 of marginal economic activity. The bo

The other reply from jswinghammer is spot-on about central policy. $1 of marginal new borrowing is creating less than $1 of marginal economic activity. The borrowers have gone on strike. Trying to fix this with more lending (low rates, quantitative easing) is like putting a band-aid on an elephant that has been chainsawed in half. The proper solution would have been to forcibly default the bad debt, and simply give away money to busted depositors and certain investors until inflation kicked in. Unfortunately we adopted a policy of pretending there are no defaults, so the deflation will probably continue for decades (or until a great war intervenes). Singing chiropractors: the singing part is an exaggeration, but not a big one. They are defining a mandatory minimum of "good" health care benefits. The specialists and pressure groups will rapidly purchase legislation requiring their favorite services be covered: the fanciest available birth control, massage, 30 therapist visits a year, and so forth. Give everything to everybody! Most people cannot afford this and will be fined harshly; many uninsured and self-insured will be much worse off. Housing construction, manufacturing, furniture, etc. would have caused a sharp turn in the business cycle in 2008. However it was Chinese demand for energy and metals that spiked prices. Only a tiny fraction of families were in housing and affiliated industries, but every family paid thousands more a year for gasoline, heating oil, airfare, etc. That's what sent the broad economy into free fall. If we get cap-and-trade (an actual austerity measure), we will get a repeat of 2008.