Debt as a Drug

Planet Money interviews Nassim Taleb, who recently participated in a Freakonomics quorum on financial reform, for its Deep Read series. Taleb compares the developed world’s dependence on debt to drug addiction: “What’s worse, the period in which he has to suffer withdrawal pains, or giving him more cocaine, or heroin or whatever he’s addicted to?” he says. His suggestion? Lose the debt, no matter how painful the adjustment is: “The governments should know that what matters for us is cure the problem, not postpone it. We’ve postponed the problem for two years.” [%comments]