In the annals of economic distress, poignant statements often serve as harbingers of the challenges that lie ahead. Three years ago, then- President Michel Aoun’s proclamation that we were going “to hell,” echoed through the corridors of power. At the time, he was warning about the road Lebanon would tumble down if a new government were not formed. Today his words have proved prescient: we are once again without a government, and the gravity of the economic predicament has only festered. Aoun failed to prevent a tumble into economic and financial hell, government or no government. The work of today is to unravel the costs of past financial mismanagement, spotlight the fissures in the central bank and banking sector, and install a stable government or at least fully uncover its overarching role of financial responsibility for past and future. But citizens’ voices are full of distrust in their government,
