THE COMING CREDIT COLLAPSE

Since the last depression the U.S. economy has scooted along on reams of bank and corporate credit. The debt structure -- debt is merely another name for credit -- ""far surpasses that of the last period of excess in the 1920's""; hence the fall will come much harder this time when the ability to borrow from Paul to pay Peter dries up in the imminent ""supercrunch"" of credit. Lack of liquid assets among companies and banks is the basis of Paris' evenly conceived and carefully documented ""supercrunch,"" which amounts to nothing less than world depression, although he says the collapse could be held off for a while by a flurry of new credit, producing intolerable inflation (as it already has). Paris wrote the book to advise stock portfolio managers to remain prudent and short-term oriented; purpose apart, his theory Of credit collapse is powerfully argued. Comprehensible and all too relevant to a wide audience.