By Allan Sloan – It’s hard to believe, but it’s been five years and a day since the U.S. financial system‘s problems surfaced, and we’re still not even remotely close to being able to feel good about the economy.
There’s a long way to go before the economy, and people, recover from wounds inflicted by the financial meltdown. The value of homeowners’ equity — most Americans‘ biggest single financial asset — is down $4.7 trillion, about 41%, since June 2007, according to the Federal Reserve. The U.S. stock market has lost $1.9 trillion of value, by Wilshire Associates‘ count. Even worse, we’ve got fewer people working now — 142.3 million — than then (146.1 million), even though the working-age population has grown.
- Myth No. 1: The government should have done nothing
- Myth No. 2: The government bailed out shareholders
- Myth No. 3: The Volcker Rule will save us
- Myth No. 4: Taxpayers are off the hook for future failures
- Myth No. 5: It’s the government’s fault
We’ve had more than enough shrieking and demonizing since this mess erupted in 2007. We need common sense, like the Hoenig Rule, and markets (as opposed to a zillion regulators.) more> http://tinyurl.com/6vjdle6
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- The insolvent United States banking system: lessons from J.P. Morgan Chase (alethonews.wordpress.com)
- Dimon hearing raises questions about bank’s risk models (finance.fortune.cnn.com)
- U.S. survey shows meltdown set families back 20 years in wealth (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
Very true… And the outlook is not very bright either. Most of us are looking at working well into our 70s before we can even start thinking about retirement.