考研英语阅读例题：Is there life after debt 债后还有生活吗.doc

Is there life after debt? 债后还有生活吗? [] The Economist DEBT is as powerful a drug as alcohol and nicotine. In boom times Western consumers used it to enhance their lifestyles, companies borrowed to expand their businesses and investors employed debt to enhance their returns. For as long as the boom lasted, Mr Micawber ’s famous injunction appeared to be wrong: when annual expenditure exceeded e, the result was happiness, not misery . For a long time debt in the rich world has grown faster than es. In America private-sector debt alone rose from around 50% of GDP in 1950 to nearly 300% at its recent peak. The origins of the boom go even further back, reflecting huge changes in social attitudes. In the 19th century defaulting borrowers were sent to prison. The generation that lived through the Great Depression learned to scrimp and save. But the wider take-up of credit cards in the 1960s created a“ buy now, pay later ” society. Default became just a lifestyle choice. The reckless lender, rather than the imprudent debtor, was likely to get the blame. As consumers leveraged up, so panies. The average bond rating fell from A in 1981 to BBB- today, just one notch above junk status. Firms that held cash on their balance-sheets were criticised for their timidity , while bankruptcy laws, such as America ’s Chapter 11, prevented creditors from foreclosing panies. That forgiving reg