, Columnist
Deutsche Bank Gives Us a View of the Credit Abyss
The evidence suggests that bailouts make recessions worse. It’s a Faustian bargain.
A peek inside Deutsche Bank's default study.
Photographer: Robbie Jack/Corbis Entertainment/Getty Images
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One of the most terrifying moments in all of music comes at the end of “The Damnation of Faust,” the opera by Berlioz. Faust sells his soul to Mephistopheles, who then takes him on a ride to the abyss, past screaming figures in pain, before he falls before Beelzebub’s army of devils. It is thrilling and blood-chilling. And you would think it would be the last piece of music to come to mind when reading the 22nd edition of Deutsche Bank AG’ s annual default study.