Taming The Beast

The main cause of our ongoing economic crisis—which is perhaps finally starting to slowly wane—is too much private debt. After the elimination of financial-industry regulation by Republican and Democratic governments, Wall Street got rich by acting as a middleman, lending Asian and Middle Eastern money to people who could not possibly repay their debts. Borrowers—workers with stagnant or declining incomes—bought too many houses, cars, big-screen televisions, and other toys that they really could not afford. The festival of mindless, unsustainable lending ended in global economic collapse.