It's Not a Recession But a Sign of A Weakened Economybr The Institute of Ideas - Institute of Ideasbr While the consequences of the credit crunch appear all too apparent, the intricacies of the complex financial instruments involved, combined with the vast sweep of the global financial system, seem to defy explanation. Attempts to accuse negligent regulators, fraudulent brokers and greedy borrowers cast much blame but little light on the causes of the crisis.Are the current problems a sign that the developed world has been living off credit for too long? The United States is still by far the world’s largest and wealthiest economy, so why for so long has it been reliant on credit supplied by the smaller and poorer economy of China? In the past 30 years, the UK economy has shifted away from manufacturing towards financial services.