Roubini’s central thesis is that crises are an inherent part of capitalism. The ingredients arealways similar: easy money coupled with financial deregulation, irrational euphoria whichleads to a bubble, followed by the inevitable bust. In some cases, the bubble is driven bygenuine innovation: the railroads, for example, or dotcom fever, which at least leave the worldsome benefit when the wreckage is swept up. The current crisis, however, was not driven byreal world invention, but by the financial variety, which is of dubious value to anyone other than the bonus-laden bankers.