Ironically, the closer most people are to the blowup, which is also when the claims outstanding are largest relative to the amount of hard money and tangible wealth there is, the riskier the situation is but the safer people tend to feel. That is because they have held the debt and enjoyed the rewards of doing so. The longer it has been since the last blowup, the more people’s memories of it have faded—even as the risks of holding the debt rise and the rewards for holding it decline.
