And, from the tail-end of the last century:

The phone rings. "Whoopee!" you think. "The phone is ringing!" O.K., you really should calm down about this phone-ringing stuff, but you are the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, and this past year, for all its chaos and tumult, has been about the most exciting you could imagine. It's the holiday season, and you are eager to get to your family and all that, but boy, this holding the world economy by the hand is even better than advertised.

See also, this letter in response to "No Depression":

Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke do not have at their disposal the means to deal with these longer-term issues that will harm world economies. To address these issues, major nations must elect leaders prepared to deal with them, or, at the very least, stop electing people who dismiss them or delay dealing with them. If weak and ineffective leaders continue to be elected, the rest of us should join together and become politically powerful so that a worldwide calamity can perhaps be avoided.

Or should we just wait and see what happens?