Debt was appropriately identified in the Centre for Social Justice's report Breakdown Britain and has been a focal point for the Financial Services Authority in its work on young people. In a broader context, consumerism and greed - which can obviously contribute to debt - were identified as significant contemporary "social evils" in the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on that subject. But it is not always the greedy who are saddled with overwhelming debt. Consider this salutary tale, told...