Rig, you may be right. But if the drunk does get sober, that sobriety will be achieved by getting rid of a number of false assumptions (addictions, if you will) that are underlying causes of the current economic situation. Some of those assumptions are:

1) Oil will be cheap forever.

2) Buying on credit is as good as, or even preferable to, paying cash.

3) The financial sector, which does nothing but facilitate the flow of money from one place to another while actually producing nothing, is of greater value to our economy than the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

If the guy falling down the stairs comes to the realization that the above assumptions are delusional and adjusts his behavior appropriately, there's a good chance that the resulting new economic paradigm that grows out of that realization will be healthier and more sane than the one which is currently in the process of collapsing around us. If he doesn't make the necessary changes and continues to attempt to live via the current economic paridigm, yes, he's gonna break his fool neck.