In article .com, "w_tom" wrote:
12/2 wire to power a 40 amp breaker? Not acceptable. 12/2 when, as
Doug said, four wires are required? 12/2 is not four wires and not
sufficient gauge.

He's talking about using that entire cable as the grounding conductor for the
subpanel. Still not safe, still not Code-compliant... but not quite as bad an
idea as you assumed.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.