Lunatics took over the asylum

From The Daily Mail:

Bankers and politicians displayed the same symptoms as patients with mental health problems in the run up to the devastating credit crunch, scientists have revealed.

In the years before the crisis, scientists claim bankers, economists and politicians shared the characteristics of denial, omnipotence and triumphalism. The same symptoms are prevalent in psychologically disturbed individuals according to Professor Mark Stein, from Leicester University’s school of management.

In a paper published today in The Sage Journal, he said the shared 'manic culture' caused world leaders to 'throw caution to the wind' which led to the financial disaster...

Which would all be bad enough, but as far as I can see, the same deluded beliefs are still prevalent.

This is not a crisis, a short term state of affairs which can be resolved by a one-off decisive action (see: Cuban missile crisis), this is the way the world is: Oh, if only we could bail out the banks once and for all. Oh, if only we can keep house prices high. Oh, if only we could pass off increases in the national debt as reductions in the annual deficit, or indeed as 'savage Tory cuts'. And so on.