Déjà vu with a Vengeance  With recent financial headlines
echoing those just before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers,
European and U.S. policymakers must take urgent steps to reduce
risk and prepare for bad times ahead. Related Topics Related
Media and Tools   • Email  With recent financial headlines
echoing those just before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers,
European and U.S. policymakers must take urgent steps to reduce
risk and prepare for bad times ahead. The news has a certain
dismal familiarity. Bank bankruptcies and forced mergers,
paralysis in the interbank market, reduced central bank
collateral standards for extending loans, U.S. swap lines to
foreign governments, and calls for limits on short-selling evoke
the precarious financial conditions just before the bankruptcy
of Lehman Brothers. Not everything is the same, of course. Most
importantly, the rise in government debt levels and substantial
monetary expansion undertaken in response to the last crisis
will make it more difficult to cope with th