Occam razor -> "There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom." ... boom & bust cycles occur naturally due to brain & information asymetry chump, credit or not, nature is rife with examples... here's a fun study as well fyi: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=148093&highlight=trading+monkeys properly channeled credit is what you need to smoothen the bust cycle, or rather, thats the only tool available to achieve that... now whether its a desirable objective or country bankruptcy / civil war is preferable is a matter of philosophy for the nutters and thats where our austrian muppets generally come in... how come?