So, that's what it feels like to live thru a collapsing civilization, when the collapse is slow enough that you don't notice it. What's that about a frog letting itself be boiled alive if the water's temperature increases slowly enough?

Exactly right, although surprisingly Phillips doesn't use that analogy anywhere I noticed.

It's an extraordinarily readable book, too; he's got a knack for writing about economics in ways that don't fog.