I've got a quick solution too, Peace! ;-) Pardon all existing debts (specially the really big ones, like the national debt), and start over on Day 1. Issue new currency. Everyone who has an existing bank balance gets exactly that much in the new currency, guaranteed by the government, and we start off from there.

As for the existing lending institutions whose crazy lending practices have perpetrated the mess we are in, place them under very strict governmental regulation as to how much they can lend out and how much interest they can charge for it.

We already have real people, real farmland, real products, real resources, and a real ability to produce the goods and services we need for a decent life. What is killing it is the mountain of debts that have accumulated through the practice of lending and borrowing.

So remove the mountain. Erase all the past debts and start over. They will have to be erased at some point anyway, because they simply cannot be paid. The money isn't there to pay them.