>thought to be sustainable debt loads a few years ago.
No, the debt was never sustainable. Essentially the banks allowed loans which were gigantic ponzi schemes.
Retail: "Our growth will continue forever!"
Banks: Hmm, we got bit pretty hard on these home loans and need somewhere else to make money, "Forever growth is like infinite money, I like money!", "Here is 10 billion dollars, just remember to pay us back in 2017".
