Embrace the pain

There is nothing we can do to prevent a severe recession. To think that we can as a global economy live beyond our means, spend too much on consumption, create enormous amounts of debt, and somehow not have to pay for it is absurd. But somehow there is a weird consensus about trying to minimize the pain, smoothing the recession and pretending nothing ever happened. We are distorting the natural forces of economy, and it will only make things worse in the long run. 

Yes it is possible to print so much money and pump it into the system that it will inflate the recession away for a few years. But it's like curing alcoholism with three cases of beer. It will not make the fundamentals of the economy any better. It is going to create a huge global inflation somewhere down the line. That is the disease the central banks are injecting into this already shattered economy. That will make the commodity prices skyrocket and result in food shortages in third world countries. You see, someone will bite the bullet at the end, no matter how you slice it. It is only matter of who, how and when. 

There is honor and grace in paying the full price yourself for the bad and stupid things you've done.