Buiter is not a Brit — he is Dutch, and has consistently argued for the UK to join the Euro.

He is not being superior about the French. All he has been claiming is that the North Atlantic banking system as a whole is basically insolvent, that the problems cannot be solved by monetary policy alone, and the French have yet to adequately to grasp this.

In general, when my countrymen suggest they should be seen as an example by the rest of the world, I squirm with embarrassment.

On this occasion, however, the Brits have clearly (if belatedly) seen that the kind of statist Swedish approach recommended by Nouriel Roubini and Yves Smith provides the only way out of the blind alley in which we have got ourselves.

And large helpings of humble pie are being eaten — as when the Tory leader David Cameron went to see Carl Bildt for instruction on how to do things the Swedish way.

And if you think about it, those of us who are working, and have 401ks mixed in the madness, if you have 20 – 30 years and are buying monthly then realistically you should be fine.

Unless, that is, things cease to exist as they are now and we experience a tabla rasa.

Personally, re: 401K i put “real” money in, I want “real” money back at some point, but i’m willing to wait it out.

I am thinking how much wine can I buy for the weekend while stocking up on oatmeal?

In theory, there are numerous monetary and fiscal policy tools that SHOULD work. In practice, they are being tried and found wanting.

All that we can hope for at this point is that the capital asset deflation DOES NOT turn into a general goods and services deflation.

If that happens, then our only option is to wipe out the debts that are strangling the economy – either by massive monetary inflation, or if even that fails, then by outright cancellation of debt via legislative fiat. Strong medicine, with strong side effects, but there is no alternative.

It's not very intelligent to state such fingerpointing phrase to the French when the situation is far worse in the long term in the UK than in EU. I would say it's dangerous regarding the crisis we're in.

The UK must now STFU a little and prepare to stare in the abyss it has itself created, along with its US counterparts. The future of EU is with Russia (not meaning only russia), & im affraid it is something the UK don't want to hear about. But it will happen.

I think most people, even in the UK, don't want no new labour policy applied anywhere and are striclty fed up with this credit binge the brits have enjoyed the last 8 years. It's about time anglo saxon economic vision get tamed, & im not talking about communism : i'm talking about normality.

There's nothing left in the UK except financial craters : I understand what it means for UK I the long term, but it is something they'll have to sort out by themselves, & the firts step toward rebirth is called humbleness.

It looks like one of those moments in history that tells us however much we all think we know what the driver should be doing there really isn’t a driver and hasn’t been for quite a while.

If, for example, Libor/Ted Spreads are right, aren’t we on the eve of a run out of Treasuries? Aren’t money markets simply saying there is nowhere to invest in the US right now, and earn a safe return?

Shouldn’t the issue be then how to organize some profit and yield producing economic activity in the US starting off at the macro-level?

Let Hank Paulson consolidate and run it. Only need one model — the Sheeplewagen.

Cash, Ricardo Kline — cash, my man! I show up in my eerily quiet branch of Monster Bank and cash large checks frequently. They don’t say nothin’ …