2008 saw the convergence of fantasy with reality. The financial markets collapsed as Lehman Brothers, a major US investment bank, went bankrupt in September. The fear at the time was that money would stop flowing: ATMs would stop working; wages would no longer be able to be paid; shops would no longer be able to transact; people with money in banks would lose all their savings.

Chapter 7: The GFC — A Short Lesson in Reflexivity