After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead

Abstract

In April of 2009, 12 weeks into his administration, President Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University on the economy, and made a commonsensical statement about the background and causes of the 2008 crisis:Recessions are not uncommon.Markets and economies naturally ebb and flow, as we have seen many times in our history.But this recession is different.This recession was not caused by a normal downturn in the business cycle.It was caused by a perfect storm of irresponsibility and poor decision-making that stretched from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street.