Inflation is bad, but deflation is worse

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13610845
Here a quote from one of the comments:
"A Nobel Prize economist once told me:
Inflation is like alcoholism.
When you start it, the good effect are immediate, and the bad effects come later.
When you want to stop it, the bad effects come immediately, and are very painful, and the good effects come much, much later.
And, like alcoholism, the later you stop inflation, the more you will suffer, and the longer it will take -- but, eventually, you will always have to stop it, or you will die"

Now the problem with cheap money and credit is that it is more like crack cocaine than alcohol. Once you are hooked you almost cannot kick the habit. This is why changes in US financial system, though everyone is sure that it has to be done in order to put the economy on a more rock solid foundation, are so hard to come by. This is also why the future is so uncertain - It takes an enormous amount of courage and austerity to go through the drug rehab to rid off the habit and get healthy again.

After the Great Recession

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03Obama-t.html?ref=magazine
Financial regulation, education, healthcare, energy - the four legs of the stool.