Bubbles are bursting and financial institutions running out of money in places which don't much resemble Wall Street.

"People wanted bigger weddings, newer carriages," Mr. Lehman says. "They were buying things they didn't need." Mr. Lehman spent several hundred dollars on a model-train and truck hobby, and about $4,000 on annual family vacations, he says. This year, there will be no vacation.

It became common practice for families to leave their carriages home and take taxis on shopping trips and to dinners out.

Some Amish families had bought second homes on the west coast of Florida and expensive Dutch Harness Horses, with their distinctive, prancing gait. Others lined their carriages in dark velvet and illuminated them with battery-powered LED lighting.

Yup, living above your means and spending money you might not have to pimp out your ride will have negative consequences when the cash stops flowing. It won't make a lick of difference that the ride you've been pimping is a horse-drawn buggy and your trousers don't have zippers. Trying to live according to the old ways won't prevent the kind of unplesantness which has been happening to countless fools and unfortunates ranging from peasants to kings for thousands of years. Who knew?

HT: Dealbreaker