What does "death spiral" mean?
death spiral
I think "death spiral" comes from a type of plane crash. If a pilot loses control, the plane will take a nose dive (that is, the front will point straight down and it will fall directly towards the ground): during this time the plane will spin about its ant.-post. axis, hence the spiral. It is virtually impossible to get out of this kind of fall.
Thus, a death spiral is a situation that can only get worse and worse. In Guest's links, a "Death Spiral" loan is one that you have no chance of paying off, and Hollywood's "Death Spiral" refers to how movies these days come out on video just a few months after they play in theatres: this leads to a decrease in revenue at the theatres, leading movie studies to put movies out on video sooner, etc. The figure-skating "death spiral" is just a move where you nearly touch the ground (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_spiral_%28figure_skating%29).
Thus, a death spiral is a situation that can only get worse and worse. In Guest's links, a "Death Spiral" loan is one that you have no chance of paying off, and Hollywood's "Death Spiral" refers to how movies these days come out on video just a few months after they play in theatres: this leads to a decrease in revenue at the theatres, leading movie studies to put movies out on video sooner, etc. The figure-skating "death spiral" is just a move where you nearly touch the ground (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_spiral_%28figure_skating%29).