If the media is to be used as a gauge of the gravity of a situation, then it seems we are well and truly out of the frying pan, but are we heading into the fire?

In a relatively short space of time, the focus has shifted from doomsday scenarios and money under the mattress type safety precautions to economic growth, inflation risk and rising interest rates.

Today, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Australian economy is on the verge of another boom later this decade as company investments bear fruit.

Last month, The Economist led with an article titled Bubble Warning, suggesting markets are too dependent on unsustainable government stimulus and that something has to give.

Like many chronic illnesses, the symptoms of a crook financial system are usually hard to identify for the average person and are often stumbled across when it’s far too late.

Much of the treatment for the GFC was administered with a hefty dose of cash (via government stimulus) – and a dash of hope.

Australians responded appropriately by increasing retail spending and quickly flipping from a nation of net debtors to a nation of net savers.

The local stock market has soared, and for many people the woes of 2008 and 2009 are now just a distant memory.

The danger in all this is that while the economy is recovering, unemployment is falling and investors are returning to the market in droves, we’ve really learnt nothing from the so-called ‘crisis we had to have’.

The she’ll be right nature of Aussies undoubtedly helped cushion the blow, but collective dementia will inevitably lead to more pain further down the track.