The Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2012, Saturday

The Wall Street Journal

March 10, 2012, Saturday

The Wall Street Journal (full article)

Debt, the American Way

Who knew getting out of an unprecedented debt crisis was this easy? Print trillions of dollars for the banks, give Wall Street speculators zero-interest loans, and run up the national debt clock to $15 trillion.

Whip out your credit card, if you've still got one, and enjoy it while it lasts.

"We all know it's going to happen," says Louis Hyman. "Interest rates have to go up, and when they do—Kablooey!"

That is the precise technical term for where our debt-addicted economy is headed.

Mr. Hyman is a former McKinsey consultant, a Harvard Ph.D., a Cornell University professor and author of "Borrow: The American Way of Debt."