The danger is not so much in the economic structure of a society but in its intellectual structure.
In each colony in 1750 were to be found two sets of governing organizations, - the local and the general.
A beautiful deleveraging balances the three options. In other words, there is a certain amount of austerity, there is a certain amount of debt restructuring, and there is a certain amount of printing of money. When done in the right mix, it isn't dramatic.