An indispensable and absolutely accessible explanation of the causes of the world economic crisis and how we should respond to it In this urgent and timely book, the man the "Daily Telegraph" calls "the sage of the credit crunch" shows that although the downturn is global, the complacency of the British government towards the huge "bubble" in property prices and high levels of personal debt, combined with increasingly exotic trading within the financial markets, has left Britain badly exposed. This paperback edition has been fully revised and updated to include Vince Cable's latest assessment of the recession.