Samuel Johnson adumbrated that danger more than two centuries ago when he wrote about the bankruptcy of merchants, that assumed the splendour of wealth only to obtain the privilege of trading with the stock of other men, and of contracting debts which nothing but lucky casualties could enable them to pay; till after having supported their appearance a while by tumultuary magnificence of boundless traffic, they sink at once, and drag down into poverty those whom their equipages had induced to trust them.

adumbrate (v) 1: describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of [syn: sketch, outline] 2: give to understand [syn: intimate, insinuate] – source: The Silver Linings: The Madoff Tax Credit