In the twenty-first century, corporations delude themselves that their operations are capitalist. In fact the high levels of debt, based on dubious assets reflect "debtism" not "capitalism". Over the ages, debt has crippled countries and economies, companies, large and small, because of biased optimism by lenders and borrowers. Debt is the most common global financial risk and needs to be controlled at Board level, even before trained executives endeavour risk management. The Debt Delusion provides a history of money and debt that should lead all Directors and executives to study recommended ways to manage debt. Management of debt will be extremely important in 2008.