The Financial Crisis One Year After
The global economic crisis can yet be an opportunity to turn from a path of financial bubbles and excessive consumption to a path of sustainable development. In fact, with the practical limits of short-term stimulus spending quickly being reached, seizing this opportunity is the only recipe for genuine growth that we have left.
NEW YORK – It is now almost a year since the world economy teetered on the edge of calamity. In the span of three days, September 15-17, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the mega-insurance company AIG was taken over by the United States government, and the failing Wall Street icon Merrill Lynch was absorbed by Bank of America in a deal brokered and financed by the US government. Panic ensued and credit stopped circulating. Non-financial companies could not get working capital, much less funding for long-term investments. A depression seemed possible.
NEW YORK – It is now almost a year since the world economy teetered on the edge of calamity. In the span of three days, September 15-17, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the mega-insurance company AIG was taken over by the United States government, and the failing Wall Street icon Merrill Lynch was absorbed by Bank of America in a deal brokered and financed by the US government. Panic ensued and credit stopped circulating. Non-financial companies could not get working capital, much less funding for long-term investments. A depression seemed possible.