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THIS IS NOT A CREDIT CRISIS – IT IS A DEBT CRISIS
Author(s) -
Bezemer Dirk J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0270.2009.01929.x
Subject(s) - financial crisis , debt , government (linguistics) , economics , analogy , quarter (canadian coin) , boom , debt crisis , credit crunch , theme (computing) , economic policy , government debt , financial system , monetary economics , economy , keynesian economics , finance , engineering , history , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , environmental engineering , computer science , operating system
Using an analogy with ancient Babylonia as its leading theme, this viewpoint argues that the credit crisis is the symptom of an underlying problem. Fuelled by government policies, unprecedented debt levels were run up in industrialised countries over the last quarter century. Present policies of financial sector bailouts are not only an unwise use of taxpayers' money; they maintain economic structures opposed to what classical liberals such as J. S. Mill envisaged as a free‐market economy.