In this sense, the crisis propelled us 20 years into the future: it revealed the unsustainable character of the unchecked accumulation of excessive liabilities in the private and public sectors. It forces us to confront challenges today that we thought we had more time to address.
It has made the challenge even more daunting by debasing the pool of wealth that can be tapped to fund the social model. IMF projections for growth in advanced economies incorporate marked-down estimates for potential output relative to pre-crisis trends by 10% or more.5 Such debasing calls for even bolder action to restore sustainability.