Our necessary insight here is that, since any value contained in money exists only as a “claim” on a material economy that is now contracting, there must come a point of fatal disequilibrium between claim and substance.

The real comfort, if any is to be found, is that anyone who can find a way of preserving value will have the opportunity of buying utility value at pennies on the dollar. The term “utility” is the watch-word here, because essentials will remain essential even as society is picking over the wreckage of discretionary sectors.