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After 2008 when the US housing bubble burst on an avalanche of cheap credit, the shockwaves were felt all over the world. So Michael Lewis traveled the world, exploring the most far-out tentacles of the fiasco to unearth the bizarre subcultures that led to the shriveling of several nations' economies.

The book is Boomerang: Travels In The New Third World. It's an appropriate title, since we normally think of the third world as Africa, Central America, and Eastern Europe. But it was "civilized" Western European nations that got duped in this mess: Iceland, Greece, Ireland, and Germany - turning all of their identities upside-down.

It's the fourth Michael Lewis book I've read (in addition to the Obama profile in Vanity Fair and the Foreword to Mike Leach's book) in the last year-plus, and by far the most entertaining page turner.

While Lewis's book is enlightening, it shouldn't be viewed as journalism or history. He draws a lot of inferences based on stereotypes, stringing together entire national populations as one consciousness. It's kind of like watching Stephen Colbert do an interview: very creative, though the information is made to fit the angle.

In Iceland, all the fishermen's kids got educated and wanted to be investment bankers. They bought and bought and bought on credit until their currency was meaningless.

In Greece, everyone cheated on their taxes and none of it was enforced. So the government had no supply. Meanwhile, monks got rich selling a lake back to the government and began a commercial real estate empire.

In Ireland, money was continually poured into building projects, much more than the population needed. When warning sirens sounded in the banking community that there would be no return on these investments, the nation backlashed. No one would believe it until it happened.

In Germany, the people remained fiscally prudent, though the banking community staked all these highly volatile national economies. Lewis theorizes it's because of the Germans' deep, secret love affair with shit.

In California, the escalating salaries of police, firefighters, and prison guards (and even more so their pensions) eat up so much of the government pie, that almost all city services across the state have been slashed. And they're still running the worst deficit of any state in the nation with no end in sight and a state government that is set up to fail.

In summation Lewis cites Dr. Peter Whybrow, a British neuroscientist at UCLA for a possible ground zero to the world's economic malaise. Whybrow wrote a book, American Mania: When More Is Not Enough.

The theory is that for the history of mankind, the human brain has been trained for survival. The American advances in the last generation in banking and technology have made life far too easy. Everything is a button push away.

In "the richest society the world has ever seen," where so many wants are instantly gratified, the survival instinct becomes dormant. Decisions become desensitized, and thus don't carry consequences. People don't see the risk in a subprime loan they can't afford. And the unscrupulous lender doesn't see the damage in issuing the note in the first place.

So how does the US and the rest of the world rebound? Financial regulation would be a good start. But Americans and all humans will evolve and adapt as they always do. We can't all be multi-millionaires.

Pull Up A Chair: Maddow On Colbert

There is no table I would've rather sat at in my life than this one. And maybe from our chance meeting we could start a friendship. Stephen and I could go to ballgames, play word association, and maybe train together in the sport of kings. And perhaps Rachel would accept my hand in marriage, and we could have long walks and talk politics, while she expertly mixed my favorite drink.

But sadly I'm probably not their types. While my life does intersect with some iconic people, I'll just have to accept that these two are beyond my grasp as I am relegated to a life of amateur hero worship.

They are two great examples of American television genius, thorough deconstructors of the events of the day, and whistleblowers of hypocrisy. They separate the signal from the noise. Each obviously does their work in very different ways, but have created two mainstays in nightly TV fare.

Maddow echoed what we knew all along about the election, that Republicans were relying on their "gut" that it would be a Romney landslide, that Karl Rove had pointed to the enthusiastic crowds, which "turned out to be a bad way to predict an election."

But Colbert said never say die, there's still a path for Romney to 270:

"He just needs to get Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and the secret state only Republicans can see... Whitesylvania."

It was a gratuitous laugh line, but he boiled down the Rachel Maddow Show as well as any ever has:

"You deconstruct the day's news like the parts of a car on a lawn...but then you reconstruct those pieces into -- a conservative dream-killing machine."

Maddow laughed and said she didn't want to kill anybody's dream. She responded in her typically wonkish way, trying really, really hard not to offend.

"There's an important role to play in disabusing people of their fantasies that do not comport with what's going on in the real world."

As for the role of Sandy in the election, Colbert pressed Maddow on what caused hurricanes, telling her the answer was "gay people." Maddow blushed and quipped back, asking if gay people were responsible for lowering barometric pressure.

The interview fell short in a couple of areas. Colbert promoted, but never discussed Maddow's book, Drift. Because the conversation was only five minutes long. Which did both of these brilliant minds, and the audience, a disservice.

Accountability Returns To The NFL

After a national uproar, the NFL officials have returned, resuming their duties tonight in Baltimore. Thus the arbiters of the gridiron will restore a level of accountability.

As an aside, Backtime's Editorial Department is accountable for the level of sarcasm in yesterday's post. With all the righteous outrage out there, Backtime decided to take too many cues from our Patron Saint,  Stephen Colbert. We are all of course happy to have the regular officials back.

And gone are the nameless, faceless stand-ins who can go back to their jobs in D3 and the LFL. The names and faces we know, such as Mike Carey (pictured above) will go back to enforcing the rules and officiating the disputes in NFL games.

Not that they are deserving of a hero's welcome. These men are not perfect, and as noted yesterday, they sometimes suck. But we know their names and they are accountable for their decisions.

When I was growing up, names like Jim Tunney, Pat Haggerty, and Red Cashion were part of the fabric of the game. They made their announcements before the stadium and TV audiences, and that was that. They weren't always correct but they had authority.

Take today's best-know NFL official, Ed Hochuli. He is a presence on the field, and not just because of his guns. It's because of the years of equity he's had dealing with the league, players and coaches.

And since Hochuli is a household name in NFL circles, he is accountable. When he screws up and costs a team a game, like he and his crew did in the 2008 Chargers-Broncos fiasco, he takes responsibility.

And for the last three weeks it wasn't the responsibility of the ill-equipped replacement zebras, but the owners who locked out the regulars. There was nobody in charge on the field.

The men in stripes are back and there's order in the universe again. Coaches, players and fans will know exactly where to direct their incessant bitching.

Blowing The Whistle On NFL Zebra Talk

I resisted the temptation to pile on, but it's too great. The Backtime Editorial Department's official statement on the NFL officiating fiasco:

"Let's get all nostalgic about the regular officials, who just don't suck as much."

The truth is, I have no real take on this which hasn't already been put out there. The product is impacted and the games are becoming very difficult to watch. Professional gamblers in Vegas are no doubt turning to the roulette wheel, which now involves more research and strategy than betting a 2012 NFL game.

Wisconsin pols have gotten in on the act after their beloved Packers were jobbed on Monday. Paul Ryan in Cincinnati yesterday:

"You guys watch that Packers game last night? I mean GIVE ME A BREAK! (pauses for expected laughter, co-opting the personality of his running mate) It is time to get the real refs. And you know what it reminds me of? President Obama and the economy. If you can't get it right, it is time to get out."

I am trying, really trying to find the analogy here. Oh they're both lousy, I see - must've gone over my head. Kind of like how parking tickets and raw meat are both so hard to swallow.

Even the foremost authority in killing the right to collectively bargain has caved, as Scott Walker took to Twitter with the hashtag "#returntherealrefs." So he's suggesting that fatcat, billionaire NFL owners just give in on their hard-line stance against unionized workers. Maybe he was joking.

But despite all the attempts at comedy, as usual, one man stood alone. Noting that NFL ratings have never been higher, Stephen Colbert suggested that this is what the people want:

"People love sports disasters. That's why they watch NASCAR, or the Mets. I think the NFL should incorporate other things that entertainingly ruin the game. For instance, stop mowing the grass...

Or if you must mow it, make the groundscrew spend 20 minutes in a gyroscope before they paint the lines on the field...

Or maybe swap out the uprights for those wavy car dealership guys...

So I say, let the lockout continue. These replacement refs are great for business. I just hope they're demanding to get paid what they're worth. I mean if the owners don't give it to them, they should really form a union."

I think we found our whistleblower. But I must repeat Backtime's official statement:

"Let's get all nostalgic about the regular officials, who just don't suck as much."

These zebras-in-exile are responsible for things like a famously botched coin flip, and a completely mangled 2006 Steelers-Seahawks SuperBowl.

For the time being, things are what they are, and the product has suffered. But GIVE ME A BREAK (P.Ryan 9/25/12) with all the righteous outrage.