[gills]

We're on the tail end of a debt bubble. The recent asset bubbles have been (potentially unexpected) side effects. It's almost like the banks are using a flawed implementation of lisp which executed for-each when asked for map! Sorry, I couldn't resist... :)

I think production and technology do matter, and will eventually be the mechanism by which we bootstrap the next credit cycle. When wealth is scarce and people can just barely scrape by, who survives? Those who invent and innovate so people can have better lives for the same price. When you get right down to it, the only ways to do that are through new technology and more efficient production.

It's true that much of the credit for our debt party is going away, and many people could suffer as a result. And you are correct that in the near term technology and production will not save us, but it is the only way to recover in the long term.