PARIS — For a week it looked as though banking was not "as safe as houses" (a phrase that has seemed singularly inappropriate recently), but instead would turn into a "house of cards" that might be blown down with a puff of wind.
The main concern in Britain has been the potential effects of the banking crisis on the economy generally at a time when energy and food prices are rising and inflationary pressures are growing.
The media have tried to explain what went wrong and the way in which the banking system works or, perhaps we should say, in which it has not worked. Commentators have had difficulty describing the different instruments used by bankers to package loans into tradable securities that disguise the risks involved.