Does Anybody Remember the Crash of 2008?by Will GriggFeb. 24, 2014 |
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Benjamin Franklin observed that “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.” That warning about the prohibitive price of persistent foolishness has been lost on millions of Americans who are eagerly taking on catastrophic levels of personal and institutional debt. A little more than five years ago, Congress arranged a trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street. A few months later, the Obama administration unleashed a nearly trillion-dollar orgy of plunder, patronage, and profligacy called a “stimulus program.” All of this was supported by an unparalleled effusion of cheap money and credit from the Federal Reserve, which has continued to pump roughly $80 billion a month into the banking system. All of this constitutes a reprise of the same policies and programs that led to the financial collapse of 2008. Furthermore, the public at large is emulating the behavior of the government and its allies in the banking system. A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank ofNew Yorkshows that overall consumer debt has steadily increased since 2011, duplicating the trend that peaked in late 2007 – just before the collapse. Clearly, few have learned the lesson of the 2008 collapse – and the price to be paid for that foolishness could leave our economy in ruins. |