Crisis in a capitalist economy is often the result of a bubble bursting. The last time a bubble burst was in 2008, in what was called the Global Financial Crisis, when the whole financial system was on the brink of implosion. Despite slow economic growth since, new bubbles have been building up, particularly in the housing and stock markets. When will they burst?

The global imbalances and the bubbles in the credit and housing markets that have been building up during the last decade have been noticed by many, and many had predicted that this would not be viable in the medium to long term. But as it often happens, the way this lack of viability expressed itself came as a surprise for almost everybody.