An interesting look at the impact of the housing bubble's burst on several nations.

After looking at the (US) banking and finance industry and their role in creating the environment that led to the global economy melting down, he looks back in this book to look at the impact on several Western nations (Iceland, Greece, Germany, Ireland and the US).

He highlights how everyone (except the Germans) unquestioningly jumped in to ride the rollercoaster, though each nation had different aims in what they were looking to get out of the ride. One theme that emerged across all nations is a growing lack of a civic sense, an insistence that it i someone else's responsibility to pay the bills coming due for years of ignoring the consequences.

Germany provides an interesting counterpoint, as they didn't jump on the ride and are now being asked to shoulder the debts being left by some of the other EU nations profiled, but they also were complicit in the state of affairs in enabling some of the behaviors of the other nations.

There's an interesting study to be done, looking at the growing lack of civic engagement at many of role of society, something that in the US can be seen across many parts of society.