The 1980s are to debt what the 1960s were to sex. The 1960s left a hangover. So will the 1980s.

[T]he first bad bank loan was no doubt made around the time of the opening of the first bank.

Debt is always repaid, either by the borrower or by the lender.

Credit is money of the mind.

Every debt is ultimately paid, if not by the debtor, then eventually by the creditor.

Hope sustains life, but misplaced hope prolongs recessions.

The art of banking is always to balance the risk of a run with the reward of a profit. The tantalizing factor in the equation is that riskier borrowers pay higher interest rates. Ultimate safety - a strongbox full of currency - would avail the banker nothing. Maximum risk - a portfolio of loans to prospective bankrupts at usurious interest rates - would invite disaster. A good banker safely and profitably treads the middle ground.