With the “health” of 19 banks “assured” by Washington, and spreads indicating that all is better, we can then tend to our green shoots, and don’t worry about the elephant in the room.

I'm often asked if that was indeed the bottom. To which I reply: What got us into this mess, and have we fixed it?” The ratio of debt to GDP got way, way, way out of hand. And to fix it, we've added more debt. A rally on stocks!

It’s certainly not a get-well-soon plan, but at least the world didn’t abruptly come to an end a few months ago. It seems like basic math, but an economy whose debt grows faster than its productivity will eventually have to answer for its sins.

When I speak with young people about personal finance, I like to describe a basic balance sheet with assets on one side and debts on the other. The problem with the 2 sides is the sustainability of each. Most of my assets wear out, go out of style, get stolen, or burn down. Not so with my liabilities.

Debt-financed growth is only helpful where the assets are producing incremental income - but buying most of the stuff you find in malls won’t add a nickel to my income statement.

And, if banks really are healthy, are consumers? We have a consumer-driven economy, where an excess of GDP growth came from leverage and cheap money which unfortunately has ended very badly for many involved. Even with a “healthy” banking sector, will the consumer return with the same passion and zeal to the malls of America? I have my doubts.

So yes, when a meaningful plan is put forth to repair the balance sheet of our economy and we begin to dig ourselves out of this debt to GDP problem, I will be very interested in the indicators and the sustainability of an equity-market rally. Until then, though I'm trying to imagine what a viable plan would look like, I'm pretty sure we haven’t seen it yet.