trillions of dollars,

THE global credit crunch was a year old last week, a very unhappy birthday for the world economy and one whose repercussions could be both historic and far-reaching.

Many fantastic figures about the crunch have been bandied around, often expressed in trillions of dollars, so it is difficult to get a realistic grip on what caused it, what it actually means for ordinary Australians and whether it really is -- as some would have you believe -- the end of the world as we know it.

So, here's a foolproof guide to the crunch: something everybody can understand -- though you may find it depressing reading