THE INDEPENDENT: The credit crunch is a welcome "reality check" for a society that has become driven by unsustainable greed, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.
Rowan Williams also hit out at Gordon Brown's plans to combat recession by boosting spending, likening them to an "addict returning to the drug".
The head of the Church of England's outspoken comments came as he delivered a scathing assessment of "moral" failings in Britain's economy.
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he insisted the country had been "going in the wrong direction" for decades by relying on financial speculation to generate wealth quickly rather than "making things".
The UK had backed itself "into a corner", and must now rediscover "patience" and re-think the way it viewed material gain, he said.
Asked whether that meant the global financial crisis wracking the economy had been beneficial, Dr Williams replied: "It is a sort of a reality check, isn't it - which is always good for us.
"A reminder that what I think some people have called fairy gold is just that - that sooner or later you have to ask: 'What are we making or what are we assembling or accumulating wealth for?'." >>> By James Tapsfield, PA | December 18, 2008
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