and, of course, realizing now that no one, least in the corporate media, is wondering why it might have been so, eh.
A Tiny Revolution points to an article the Spring edition of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity and highlights part of a nice passage that could twig maybe some media curiousity:
"There were many factors at work to dampen consumer and business spending, including the weak and deteriorating job market and huge wealth losses in both housing and equity markets. And yet, the way in which the TARP was proposed and eventually enacted surely must have contributed to the lockup in spending. Having long known that Treasury could not obtain the authorities to act until the Secretary and Chairman could honestly state that the (economic and financial) world seemed to be ending, they went up and said just that, first in a private meeting with Congressional leaders and then several days later in testifying to the Congress on September 23 and 24. Americans might not have understood the precise channels by which credit markets would affect the real economy, but they finally realized that it was happening—and whether or not they agreed with the proposed response of buying assets with the TARP, they could plainly see that the U.S. political system appeared insufficient to the task of a considered response to the crisis. Surely these circumstances contributed to the economic downturn—though the extent is something that will be studied in the future.
The Financial Crisis: An Insider View
Phillip Swagel
Brookings Papers
Spring/2009
(via A Tiny Revolution)
Me, I'm off for my 40 klick biking jaunt on my great swiss bike (who said Americans can't make anything any more - Oops it was manufactured in Taiwan, but it was thought up in the states least and under a DOD contract to.) before it gets to hot outside, but I might wonder along the way who may have benefitted from a little confusion and panic back in September 2008.
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