I believe one day we’ll tell our children and grandchildren about the events of the “Great Recession.” We’ll recall the days of the Panic of 2008 just as my grandfather and father related the fabled stories of Appalachian life in the wake of the Great Crash of ’29. Many will have stories similar to those told by my grandparents, who saw their life savings destroyed in a wave of bank collapses and watched as banks foreclosed on local business properties and their neighbors’ homes. Just as jobs were precious and few for them, so they are today for many Americans. Similarly, just as Americans pinned their hopes on a new Democratic administration led by a charismatic leader’s ideals of societal reformation through a series of unprecedented programs and expansions of federal powers, so a modern generation facing a systematic collapse of asset prices and financial institutions has pinned their hopes on another charismatic leader promising “hope” and “change.”
Put this report by Guggenheim on your weekend reading list!
