Richard Duncan, author of The New Depression, gave an ominous interview to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” saying a credit explosion created the unsustainable economy we live in now and the private sector simply cannot repay its debts fast enough to become agile again.

Since the private sector cannot get new credit, a credit contraction in today’s economy – where gold no longer backs currency (a situation that has existed for a long time) – could push the overall economy into a deep depression, Duncan argues.

If that’s not bad enough, he suggests the depression could be severe enough to destroy our civilization as we know it.

While many Americans are focused on government spending cuts, Duncan has a new twist to this solution. He believes governments should borrow massive amounts of money at today’s low interest rates to buy new technologies such as renewable energy and technology related to genetic engineering. He claims these investments – even if they don’t work – will help us enjoy civilization for another ten years before it collapses.

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