# State For Me The Case That We're Economically Nowhere Near Out Of The Woods **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-for-me-the-case-that-were-economically-nowhere-near-out-of-the-woods/499791 "2009-06-15T01:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-for-me-the-case-that-were-economically-nowhere-near-out-of-the-woods/499791/41 "2009-06-17T05:48:49Z")
> [@Lunar\_Saltlick](#): > > You’ve got to blame Bernanke for at least part of it. When the credit markets started to freeze up in August 2007, he slashed interest rates massively – outside of a regularly scheduled meeting, if memory serves – and the party went into overdrive for another year. I sometimes think that if Bernanke hadn’t done that, we’d all be a lot better off now. The recession wouldn’t have been quite as bad, there would have been one year less of ridiculous borrowing and lending, AIG and others might not have been in quite as bad shape, we might already be past the worst of it, and the worst of it wouldn’t have been quite as bad. As it is, it’s worse than it needed to be, and it’s still got at least a year to run. Of course, hindsight and all… If we had only known that was not going to work! I think he was applying the standard remedy for an oncoming recession, and if he hadn’t I bet lots of people would be wondering why we need such over the top remedies today. Also, I don’t think anyone knew back then what a bad shape the credit markets and people like AIG were in. So, I think you might be right in hindsight. Greenspan had the luxury of prosperity to work with, and so he had a lot more flexibility - if only his ideological blinders allowed him to see what was really going on. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-for-me-the-case-that-were-economically-nowhere-near-out-of-the-woods/499791/42 "2009-06-17T07:16:14Z")
> [@raspberry\_hunter](#): > > Yes. If the economy has improved by the end of the year, instead of doing the death spiral of Fed-failing-at-quantitative-easing/interest-rates-rising/foreclosure-debt-mayhem I expect later in the summer/early fall, I will say to everyone I’m now telling to sell stocks and not buy real estate that I was wrong to be skeptical and that my understanding of economics clearly leaves a lot to be desired. (Which could be true. This whole thing left a lot of people who know a lot more about economics than I do completely blindsided.). My thoughts exactly. Greenspan is one of the big culprits. Go back to late 1996 and the “irrational Exuberance” speech. He failed to pop the bubble then, eased off when he should have tightened (blamed the Asia crisis and the Russia meltdown) which enabled the dot bomb bubble, then allowed housing to bubble so as to engineer a soft landing from there. Instead of taking the pain back in 96 & 97, we had a decade of “soft landings” that set us up for the crash of the greatest Ponzi scheme in history. We are at the end of the beginning and not the begging of the end for this crisis. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-for-me-the-case-that-were-economically-nowhere-near-out-of-the-woods/499791/43 "2009-06-17T16:45:30Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Some are arguing that we haven’t really let it burst, and may be gearing up for Part Deux. > > [Depression Porn: The New Taxpayer-funded Subprime Market No One Wants You To Know About - By Yasha Levine - The eXiled](http://exiledonline.com/subprime-the-second-coming-now-with-a-100-taxpayer-backed-guarantee/) Foreclosures are increasing. Many who had decent jobs are losing them causing “safe” mortgages to default too. It is far from the bottom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-for-me-the-case-that-were-economically-nowhere-near-out-of-the-woods/499791.md?page=2)