That kind of alarmism repeated often enough could make it true eventually.

I'm not convinced economics is mind over matter, except of course among day traders. If people stop spending money they don't have on things they can't afford, it may finally force the realization that numbers do have to add up. It may also force economists and politicians (and even the NY Times editorial board) to stop spouting the myth that when someone else is willing do a job for less in a place that doesn't care about such niceties as protecting the environment or worker safety or consumer safety, those jobs will be replaced by better jobs, if only those pesky people who just want to work hard and settle down and have a halfway decent life with some degree of job security, would just get themselves some job retraining or a better education (so instead of being a nation a farmers or a nation of factory workers, we can become a nation or lawyers and real estate agents and financial planners).