Similarly, few regimes seemed more stable than that of the Shah of Iran, another long term ruler, who, having bankrupted his country, was forced to flee the fury of a mob in 1979.

Moreover, many banks had so much public debt on their balance sheets that they would have been bankrupted in the event of a full blown default. This led to extreme instability in the eurozone s banking system.

The behavior of currency markets has repeatedly confounded and even bankrupted sophisticated investors. With so much currently staked on the market moving in one direction, it is worth contemplating the consequences if this happens again in 2015.

The financiers, however, will argue for caution let s see how the economy does, and if it needs more money, we can give it. But a firm that is forced into bankruptcy is not un bankrupted when a course is reversed.

The slightest negative shock could have bankrupted the new federal government. Fortunately, the opposite happened federal revenues tripled under the impact of a rapid post war reconstruction boom, and continued to grow rapidly, aided by the country s ability to remain neutral while wars ravaged the European continent.

In recent years, real estate speculation has become another important source of demand for underground loans. When real asset prices fall and cause local credit networks to collapse, not only are hundreds of families left financially shattered and enterprises bankrupted, but banks suffer collateral damage, as occurred recently in the Wenzhou region.

And, like Vietnam, will the US exhausted and nearly bankrupted by the effort see all of its supposed gains evaporate soon after it leaves? After all, Al Qaeda, albeit weakened, remains capable of regenerating inside Afghanistan, where the Taliban remain dominant in the country s east and south, as well as in neighboring North Waziristan in Pakistan.