辜朝明用这一框架���析日本第一个失去的十年（20世纪90年代）中的日本企业，但这一框架也适用于饱受危机打击的美国消费者，他们至今仍在挥之不去的过度债务负担、按揭资不抵债和个人储蓄严重不足的局面中苦苦挣扎。
While Koo applied this framework to Japanese firms in Japan’s first lost decade of the 1990’s, it rings true for America’s crisis-battered consumers, who are still struggling with the lingering pressures of excessive debt loads, underwater mortgages, and woefully inadequate personal saving.