23 February

One of the challenges in any debt boom is how much peoples' emotional stability depends on their spending. All booms are really a psychological rather than economic problem - or better economics is really about psychology. To not be a big spender can make you somebody who creates anxiety. Or you'll get called cheap. A bit like somebody who doesn't drink or who drinks little can make friends uncomfortable who are drinking too much. This is an age of excess in all sorts of ways, excess debt, excess emotion, excess booze, excess sentiment. It's all connected.